Dreadzone: Final Cut
by Tankbain
Summary: The real story of Ratchet's adventures in Dreadzone that you where never ment to see, with a bit more action, a bit more diolog, and a whole lot more Jak and Daxter.
1. Chapter 1: Prisoners

**Author's Notes**

**Hay all; this is my first story of I hope you all like it. I don't know how often I will be able to update it but I will do my best to get a new chapter up each week. **

**Also, I know very little about Jak and Daxter's lives in the games, I do know their personalities and such but details escape me as of now. So if I tick off any Jak and Daxter fans sorry in advance and please send me what was wrong at I will do my best to fix it in the future. **

If you have any info. on Jak and Daxter you think I should know that hasn't come up yet send that to me too. Specifically I need to know what powers Jak has in his Light/Dark modes.

**I own none of the characters, settings, or items from Insomniac and Naughty Dog games.**

Chapter 1

Pristoners

The starship Phoenix was rather cold this morning as Ratchet took his seat in the captain's chair. The on-board heating system had been acting up again and he hadn't had time to fix it just yet. It was directly associated with the starboard engine's fuel problems. The engine had lost over 60 efficiency in the last week and sucked up tons of fuel that should have gone to the heater. Though he could likely fix it with a couple of whacks from his wrench and some less violent fine tunings in just minutes, being captain of the massive ship had other, more important, duties waiting for him all the time. Normally he would just leave such janitorial work to the repair bots of the ship, but he had found them to be rather slow and inefficient when it came to doing their job, much like the Galactic Rangers that patrolled the ship.

The Galactic Rangers weren't bad though really; they where just rather cowardly at times, "and kudos to whoever programmed that feature." Sighed Ratchet.

Ratchet's fur bristled as the bridge door opened and let in the chillier air of the main hall leading to it. In walked Clank, Ratchet's best friend and ally. Clank wasn't much good in a shoot out but damn he could sure hold his own when it mattered. Clank was the self-appointed computer specialist of the ship. His rank wasn't official, but no one objected to him being on the ship and doing what he was good at. Especially since Capt. Ratchet said it was fine.

Clank took his seat to the left of Ratchet in the computer officer's chair and swung the keyboard around to suspend just in front of his metallic fingers. "Good morning Ratchet." He said as he booted up the system for the day. (Or what was called A.M. shift on the ship since day was relative to the planet one was near and did not really apply to a ship, according to Clank) "Good morning Clank. Sleep well?" Not even looking up Clank replied "As you know Ratchet, I do not sleep, I recharge and shut down. So if you mean 'did my recharge go well' then yes it did." Ratchet rolled his eyes at the logical little robot and turned back to the forward screen looking at nothing in particular. He could always count on Clank to keep the facts strait.

Ratchet's sensitive ears picked up something above the click of Clanks typing. Footsteps. He listened for a moment to them and determined it was the heavy step of Al. Al was the technical officer of the ship and everyone knew it. He often flaunted his skills and got very annoyed if his feats where not recognized. Al was a good guy, a bit of a nerd but good none-the-less. He stepped in to the bridge, out of uniform as usual, (Ratchet didn't mind though, his yellow spandex suit was rather disturbing anyway.) holding a pink glazed donut with sprinkles from the mess hall and an extra large cup of coffee with a picture of Courtney Gears on it. Mumbling something about useless repair bots, he sat down in his seat to the right of Ratchet's and promptly finished-off his donut.

"Hay Al" Said Ratchet. Al swiveled his seat around to face the fuzzy captain. "Have you fixed the heater yet," asked Al in his nasally voice. "because I'm freezing in hear!" Al shivered for affect. "I have the repair bots on it but you know how they are" Said Ratchet. Al swiveled his chair back grumbling and took a sip of coffee.

"Incoming call from the Mayor of Metropolis." Piped up Clank "The, ahem, new Mayor of Metropolis." He added. "Oh you mean…" said Ratchet and the main screen turned on showing the old Captain of the Phoenix and Ratchet's girl-friend Sasha. "Hi boys." She said with a wave. "Just a sec." Said Ratchet pushing the "hold" button on his command board in front of him. He had been waiting all week for this call. He hadn't seen Sasha in a long time since he was made Captain of the Phoenix and she was made Mayor of Metropolis to aid in the clean up of the Tyranoid attack, and he wasn't about to screw it up. "Greetings Mayor!" Ratchet said practicing in the most official sounding voice he could make. "No, no…Hay Mayor how are things in Metropolis? Still standing I hope." Clank switched on the monitor again just as Ratchet finished this last sentence. "Greetings Captain." Said Sasha. "Oh, uh, hi." Said Ratchet sheepishly. He was never that good at talking with girls. "I see you've been taking good care of my old ship." She said looking around from inside the monitor. "If she was hear freezing she wouldn't say that" mumbled Al taking another sip of his coffee. Ratchet ignored him. "Yea, she needed some tuning up but nothing I couldn't' handle." Boasted Ratchet. Sasha laughed slightly. "I see." Then suddenly she assumed her military stance. "Listen Ratchet the reason I called is that I have bad news. Capt. Starsheild has been killed." "What no!" exclaimed Ratchet. "Yes, it seems he was involved in an illegal underground combat sport called Dreadzone located in the Dark Zone of the galaxy. We believe it is owned and operated by this man," a picture of a shark like man came up next to Sasha. "Gleemen Vox. Ratchet, you must be careful, our sources say they may coming after y…"

The transmission cut out replaced by a loud siren and flashing red lights. Clank instantly went to his monitor. "Unidentified ship approaching!" exclaimed Clank. "uh oh…" wined Al. Before Ratchet could even give an order three huge bots teleported directly behind them. Ratchet went to take out a gun, any gun. But he had neglected to put on his Gagitron Quick-select that morning. The robots where truly huge. Larger than most Ratchet had ever seen, or battled. (Accept Giant Clunk but he was another story…) They stood at about 12 feet tall and where all armed with the new Go-Comet eliminator. "Are you the Lombax known as Ratchet?" Said the one in the lead. Ratchet, Clank and Al all got out of their chairs in surprise " I don't suppose you're hear to fix the starboard engine are you?" Said Ratchet having no way to blow them to smithereens. "No, we where sent by Glemen Vox to capture you Mr. Ratchet. He is very interested in your work." Replied the robot. "Ok, first off it's Captain Ratchet to you pal. Second I'm not going anywhere." With that Ratchet's fist slammed down on the emergency scrabble button on his command board to summon the Galactic Rangers. Instantly the doorway was filled with Galactic Rangers opening fire on the mysterious robots. "Get Down!" yelled Ratchet to Clank and Al. All three leaped over the side of the observation platform to the main deck just below. Tons of Galactic Ranger fire could be herd from their cover spot. Then with some metallic clangs, the fight was over. Ratchet peeked up just in time for one of the enemy's massive hands to grab his head and pull him up. From this uncomfortable position he was face to face with the leader-bot.

Ratchet wiped out his Versa wrench and hacked off the bot's hand and the wrist. It yelled and dropped him on his feet. He had nearly forgotten about his wrench. It was permanently assigned to him by his D.N.A. courtesy of Megacourp from his commando days, it could never be taken away from him or leave his side from its reduced form on his belt. With this in hand he began to smack the massive battle-bots around a bit. Until a gun butt was brought down on his head and was knocked out.

Clank herd a sickening thud as Ratchet his the ground. He looked up over the edge of the observation platform (with some help from Al) and saw them scoop up Ratchet's motionless body. He glanced at the door and saw Galactic Ranger parts littering the hallway. Their was no help coming, Clank knew their was only one thing he could do… "Hay!" yelled Clank. The Robots turned around and looked around not seeing the source of the noise. Clank herd Al whimper. "Down hear!" Yelled Clank. The lead bot (who was missing a hand) looked down and saw him. "Well look hear boys, we got us a walking toaster." They all laughed at his ridiculous joke, but they wouldn't be laughing long… Clank's eyes began to glow red and his antenna glowed green as he activated his only means of defense that Ratchet had purchased for him in the Bogon Galaxy. Affectionately referred to as the "Clank Zapper". "I will not let you take my friend!" Red lasers fired from his eyes and his antenna and struck the first battle-bot in his chest chipping his armor and knocking him over. " "Get him!" Yelled one. The offending bot was struck with a green bolt of energy from Clank's antenna. The single green bolt being much less powerful than the combined attack from his eyes only slowed the bot down. He picked up Clank engulfing him in one hand. Clank franticly charged his eyes for another blast, forcing his power core to its limits. But not fast enough. "Night, night," said the bot and brought his fist down on Clank's cranium.

Al heard all of this from his hiding spot. He knew the little robot stood no chance against those brutes, even with his mighty "Clank Zapper." He whimpered as he heard the robots come down the ramps to the main deck towards him. He had only a Lancer with him, witch was standard issue for any officer, and a plasma grenade prototype he was going to sell to Gagitron. Summoning all the courage he had Al jumped out into the open and fired his Lancer. The small projectiles of energy bounced harmlessly off of the battle-bot's chest armor. The bot looked at the small scorches of damage on his armor then to Al. "That, was a mistake." He said menacingly. Al took a step back as the deadly robot approached and could also hear the others making their way behind him down the other ramp. Remembering his supper hero dreams and fantasies Al yelled the bravest thing he could think of; "You'll never take me alive coppers!" and tossed the primed grenade at the robot. The robot caught the grenade and inspected it curiously. Never had he seen a stranger device. A weapon one tosses? How… **booom!** The grenade went off in his quizzical face and he was incinerated in a holocaust of supper-heated plasma. The other two where astounded by their ally's untimely demise and then looked at Al who suddenly realized he was weaponless. (He still had the Lancer but a lot of good that had done him already.) Al put his hands up throwing the Lancer aside. "I surrender! I give up!" he yelled. The robots watched the Lancer fly away. And then looked back to Al. Not programmed to attack unarmed people unless directly ordered to by Glemen Vox they took him prisoner.

The two bots paraded their catches though the ship back to their transport waiting for them in the hangar, much to the dismay of the Galactic Ranger. They could do nothing to help their Captain, less they hurt him more or cause the superior battle-bots to kill him. The lugged Ratchet and Clank into the first holding tank with two other prisoners. A dark looking man with pointy ears, green hair and gote. And what was apparently his friend, a small squirrel like creature with a flight helmet. As the door opened the squirrel came alive. "Let me out'a hear you bucked headed morons! I'll tear you limb from limb!" The Squirrel leaped at the captors and slammed head-first into the one-way force field holding him in. The robots chuckled and tossed in the Lombax and the smaller bot who where still unconscious. Then they shut the blast door and locked them in.

The dull-blue lights of the holding tank came on as the door shut. "Calm down Daxter," said Jak from his leaning position in the far corner. "When they lower that shield then well get them." "Why did you just stand their!" complained Daxter. "You could have gone dark and torn them to pieces with the dark lighting stuff!" "Because I can do more damage to them if I can actually touch them." Replied Jak calmly. The ship leached and gained speed and Jak could hear the thrusters turn on indicating they where probably in space again. "Oh I get ya," said Daxter slyly. "You wait for the right time to strike then WHAM! BAM! You tack um out!" Daxter imitated some kung-fu moves "Good plan." He remarked karate chopping.

Ratchet could hear voices. His head hurt and he couldn't think strait. Suddenly the short battle came back to him. He marveled at the fact that he wasn't dead and sat up. Sensing he was awake, the nano teach in his blood stream activated and cleared his head. He looked around and found himself in a prison hold with a tall pointy eared man, a weasel and the motionless Clank. "Clank!" he yelled leaning down to his buddy. "Clank speak to me!" Clanks eyes fluttered open and his nano tech fixed the dent in his head. "What happened?" He asked as he stood up. "We've apparently been captured." Said Ratchet. "Hay, how's the gerbil?" said Daxter. Ratchet wiped around to see Daxter starring up at him arms crossed. "Who are you calling a gerbil, you little weasel!" yelled Ratchet. "He's not a gerbil!" yelled Jak back moving from his corner into Ratchet's face. "He's my friend!" "Oh, and what are you going to do about it elf boy?" "I'm gonn'a tear you apart gerbil!" and Jak took a swing at the Lombax. Ratchet ducked under the attack and tackled Jak to the floor ware they wrestled each other in fierce combat.

Daxter walked over to Clank who was watching the fight with great distaste. Daxter watched the fight with him then poked Clank with his elbow. "Hay robot, I'll bet ya 6 orbs Jak kicks your friends furry but." Clank ignored him and checked his internal G.P.S. (galactic positioning system) "Oh my," he said viewing the results. "We are headed to the Dark Zone!"

**Well their it is. Sent all comments to I take everything from compliments to out right criticism. **


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome To Dreadzone

Author's Notes 

Thank you to those who submitted reviews. I love when people even just read my work, even if you don't like it, let me know and why.

As our story continues Ratchet, Clank, Jak, and Daxter, have been on the transport ship for a bout a week now. Everyone has tended to stay to themselves until Clank just can't take it any more…

Chapter 2

Welcome To Dreadzone

Clank had had it up to his servos with the organic life forms he was forced to share the cell with. It was not in his nature to hate but he was darn close. Ratchet had come out of the fight with a black eye, and the other person (whom Clank had over herd his name was Jak) had come out with a fat lip. Nether was very hurt except their pride. The tiny creature associated with Jak had tried countless times to make amends, but Ratchet just wouldn't have it. Finally he had given up. Ratchet and Jak had spent the last week glairing at each other from opposite ends of the containment bay. When food and water came in they took what they wanted and moved back to their corners. Jak shared his portion with the weasel, (who's name was Daxter, Clank found out.) Ratchet kept his food, which Clank had no problem with since he couldn't eat it anyway. Clank powered on, a convenient recharge station had been placed in the cell one morning by teleportation for him. As his optic sensors came online he saw Ratchet and Jak glairing at each other again, both daring the other to move.

That was it this was too much for Clank. "That is enough!" he yelled as loud as he could. (which really wasn't that loud). All three of the organics looked at him rather startled. "What's with you Clank?" asked Ratchet rater annoyed that his staring contest had been interrupted. "You are both acting like blarg-headed morons! For a whole week you have done nothing but silently challenge each other for no reason other than to repair your egos! Had you put as much energy into escaping as you have hating each other we would have been free long ago!" Jak and Ratchet both looked at the floor. "Yea!" chimed in Daxter "What would Keira think Jak?" The both sat silently for a moment then just as Ratchet was about to speak the floor of the cell dropped away and all three of them tumbled out onto hard mettle.

Instantly Ratchet and Jak where on their feet. Ratchet with his wrench ready and Jak with his fists. Looking around the saw that they where in an arena surrounded by lava. A crowd cheered all around them and cameras watched their every move. Around them several others where being dropped onto the hard metal surface from the ship, dazed and confused. Ratchet recognized some of them. Agent Zero, Capt. Super Nova and his side kick Kid Nova, Hydro girl, Plasma Woman and many others. "Clank," whispered Ratchet "Yes?" said Clank picking himself up. "They're are all heroes!" Clank looked about at all the strangely clad people. "I do believe you are right Ratchet. But who would want to capture heroes?" Ratchet nodded, "And why." he added. Jak walked over to the duo. "Hay, you guys know what's going on?" he said. "Not a clue." Replied Ratchet. "Humph, well I don't like it." Jak began to look around again. "By the way, my name if Jak." "Mine's Ratchet, and this is Clank." Replied Ratchet. "How do you do?" said Clank. "Hay! What am I coped blarg-nuggets!" yelled Daxter from Jak's shoulder. "Sorry, this is Daxter, my friend." Said Jak. "Well, If they want us in this arena," began Ratchet looking back at the containment vassal. "than we don't want to be." "Right let's get back in that thing." Replied Jak. Clank attached himself to Ratchet's back. Using Clank's thruster pack he tried to super jump to the opening. Jak tried to jump up to but also failed. "Damn!" the both yelled after the thousandth try. Suddenly the ships trap doors slid shut with a metallic clang lifted out of the open roof and flew off. "Will this stinks." Said Daxter. Everyone was glancing around asking each other questions when loud rock music started blasting all around them.(Author's note think the music you hear wile fighting Chain Blade in Going Commando.)

"Ladies, gentlemen, and aliens of all ages!" yelled an announcer "Welcome to Dreadzone! The roughest, toughest, meanest, blood sport of all time!" Ratchet shook his head. "Oh no not this again." He said. "What?" asked Jak, "you've been here before?" "No, but I have been in arena battles before who claim to be the 'most violent place in the galaxy' but they never are." He complained. "All the enemies are push-overs, and most of them come out from small docking stations that extend to the arena. You can usually kill half of them with a well place Nitro Eruptor shell or a Plasma Storm Ball." Jak raised an eyebrow and looked to Daxter who shrugged. " A Nitro woza-what?" said Daxter. "It's a weapon." Replied Ratchet. "Oh." Replied Daxter.

The announcer continued. "You will be pitted against the toughest competitors in the galaxy; the Exterminators!" Ratchet snorted trying not to laugh. "If you live through the entire season of Dreadzone you have a chance to earn your freedom in the Gauntlet of DooooooooM! Now is the time to prove you're a true hero! GO!"

A buzzer sounded. "Go?" said all four in unison. Suddenly the entire arena was filled with battle bots who teleported in. They where smaller than the ones who kidnapped Ratchet but they had the same coloring. Laser bullets flew everywhere. Instinctively Ratchet tried to pull out a weapon but found none in his quick select. "Oh shit!" he yelled. "Duck!" yelled Clank. Instantly Ratchet fell to the ground as a rocket sailed over his head. "This is bull-shit Clank! We don't even have any weapons to fight with." He yelled over the noise. Suddenly a hand was pulling him up by the collar. "Hay! Why you…" he stopped short. It was Jak pulling him to his feet. "Come on!" he yelled and ran after one of the robots. Ratchet snorted and pulled out his Versa wrench. "Fine, if he can fight melee style, so can I." He fallowed Jak to the enemies. Jak punched the robot and it stumbled back. Ratchet leaped over Jak and split it's skull with his wrench. The robot exploded and rained shrapnel all over the place. They ran on around the arena into the thick of the battle. Ratchet wiped his wrench about wildly, counting on Clank to guard his back with the Clank Zapper. Ratchet could hear Daxter shouting orders too, only the seemed to be more random than Clank's "Go left! Now right! Uppercut! Kick, right! No your other Right!" Suddenly, a metallic assailant chopped Ratchet in the back of the head. He rolled over to see a gun pointed at his face. "This is it!" he thought, "It's all over!" Then Jak appeared on its back holding it in a chokehold. He snapped it's head of and Ratchet knocked it's knees out. It fell down in three pieces.

"OOOOHHH, and Mr. Myseryoso is down!" yelled the announcer. "The first to fall in the fray!" Jak held out his hand to help Ratchet up. The lombax took it willingly. "Thanks" he said. "Don't thank me yet." He yelled over the music.

"And that's the end of round 1!" said the announcer. "On to round 2 heroes!" An energy rail appeared at one end of the arena, and the lava began to rise to submerge the mettle platform. "Come on!" yelled Ratchet to Jak and ran for the rail. Ratchet jumped on to it and slid down easily. He landed in a square arena twice the size of the one he had just left. Another one ran adjacent to it. Ratchet couldn't yet get to the other platform as a stream of lava separated it. "Ratchet look!" said Clank. Ratchet spun around to see that all the other heroes where shimmying down the rail. "They don't have grind boots." Said Ratchet to himself. "Their sitting ducks!" Just as he said it several of the battle bots teleported into the arena all around Ratchet. "And it looks like Ratchet is in a bit of a pickle! He was the first off the rail but also the first and only target! What to do!" said the announcer. Many of the battle bots charged Ratchet and Clank but others began to fire at the still shimmying heroes. Ratchet saw Jak among them. "Clank we need a gun!" Ratchet yelled. Clank quickly looked around as did Ratchet. He suddenly noticed a pair of pistol like weapons on the ground about twenty feet from him, and behind about thirty robots. "It's on." Said Ratchet and charged the group. They where unprepared for the tiny lombax's charge and the first four where taken out before they knew what hit them. Parts flew everywhere and Ratchet just kept hacking. He was shot a few times and he bled in several places but he was fine. The nano-tech in his body healed him quickly. His path was clear and he dove for the guns. Grabbing them in both hands he flipped over onto his back and started firing. "And it looks like Ratchet has found the Duel Vipers on the arena floor! Designed by Vox Industries these little babies can tear apart even the biggest foes with it's mighty plasma bolts. Light weight and efficient, the DZ Strikers are in big trouble." "and how." Said Ratchet. The guns blasted through the robots like tissue paper. Armor and bolts flew everywhere as he unloaded his new toys. Finally he got the attention of all the DZ strikers and they all opened fire but to no avail. This was Ratchet's fight now; this is what he did best. Using his incredibly agility, Ratchet dogged all the incoming fire, and sent back a barrage of his own until nothing but robot parts littered the floor. He could feel Clank grimace; it must have been like being in a slaughterhouse for him. "Amazing! Incredible! Ratchet has single handedly finished off round 2! Not only that but he saved the other heroes! Well not all," said the Announcer.

"It looks like Capt. Super Nova just couldn't hang on and plummeted to his death!" The remaining heroes climbed down. Jak and Ratchet regrouped, both sweaty and breathing hard.

"Damn, man!" said Jak between breaths. "This is insane!" "Begin round 3!" yelled the announcer. Platforms appeared bridging the two rectangular arenas. Suddenly two spider-like tanks fell to the ground and opened fire with plasma gantlet-guns mounted on the front and moving forward slowly. "Enter the Stalker Tanks, those lean, mean killing machines can fire two-hundred rounds a minute, and have four inch carbonox armor. Our heroes are in for a world of hurt!" said the announcer. Heroes, blood and gore flew everywhere as the plasma tore them apart, and made Ratchet's stomach turn. He grabbed Jak who had been momentarily stunned. "Come On!" he yelled they both dove behind a light shield that had popped up when the tanks appeared. "Holy eco!" yelled Daxter as the plasma tore into he light shield with a roar. "What now?" yelled the tiny creature holding his ears "We continue to fight, like we always have." Replied Jak. Other heroes got the idea and found cover behind the radiant blue shields. Then the tanks stopped firing and the back started glowing. Ratchet stared for a moment quizzically wondering what was going on. Then it hit him. "Run! Mortars!" Ratchet shoved Jak and Daxter out from behind the shield and using his the force rolled out of the way as well. The plasma mortars struck the ground with intense ferocity right ware they and been crouching only seconds before. The heat scorched Ratchet's nose, even though he was well out of range. One of the tanks swung its turret around to face him and the gantline-guns started spinning again. Just as Ratchet was about to dodge the inevitable hail of bullets, Jak leaped onto the tank and slammed his fist through the cockpit window and removed a DZ striker from his seat through the glass. Jak jumped in and the turret opened fire on the other tank. The other four-legged monstrosity was caught off guard and was taken down quickly. Ratchet ran to Jak's tank and opened the gunner seat window. Finding a DZ striker in the seat he quickly smashed its head a few times with his wrench, pulled him out and hopped in. "HELL YEA!" yelled Daxter from the front seat. "This is unbelievable folks!" screamed the announcer. "Never in the history of Dreadzone has anyone ever hijacked a Stalker tank right from under a DZ striker's nose! This is amazing, incredible, unfleifor…incompali…someone get me a thesaurus!" Ratchet learned the controls quickly and used the single joystick to move the target on the H.U.D. of his screen, as well and the massive mortar launchers on either side of him.

"Ok folks we're down to the wire now." Began the announcer. "This is it the fourth and final round! Bring out the Executioners!" All at once the large robots, identical to the ones that had captured Ratchet, surrounded the tank. They where truly large and obviously powerful. Four of them grabbed the legs of the tank and began to pull in opposite directions. They where too close to shoot without damaging the tank, or Ratchet's fur. Before Ratchet knew what to do Jak popped out of the front cockpit with a large gun and blasted the head off of one with its shot-gun-like attack. "What is this folks? It seems Jak has found a Magma Cannon when we weren't looking. That weapon packs a real wallop as you can see. Also developed by Vox industries the Magma Cannon fires a spray of super heated liquid metal at one's opponents. I don't care what galaxy your from that has got to hurt!" With the other Executioners now backing off from the tank Ratchet began to charge the mortars and Jak opened fire with the plasma gantlet-guns. They easily dispatched the rest of the Executioners with the storm of death, and a little help from the remaining heroes. New platforms floated to the top of the lava leading to the next arena. With a defining roar from the crowd, Jak piloted the tank forward to the new platform across the small bridge pads. Suddenly the tank disappeared around them and they both landed on their hind ends on the hard metal. "What happened?" Said Jak getting up, and ware did my gun go?" Ratchet checked his quick select and his new guns where gone too. Then several pillars rose from the ground. All of them had teleporter pads on the top. "Ladies and gentlemen we have your champions! But what is this? It seems the teleporter pads are out of reach and the lava is rising again! What will our heroes do!" The platform really wasn't that high. Ratchet easily jumped up to is using Clank's thruster pack and Jak quickly jumped up to it as well pulling him self up over the edge.

Most of the other heroes made it up easily too all accept one. The platform to the right of Ratchet was vacant and below it was a shorter aqua-blue clad hero trying to jump to it but couldn't quite make it. Try as he might he just couldn't jump high enough. Ratchet pulled out his wrench and held it out to him. "Come on! Grab it!" Ratchet yelled. They young hero jumped to reach the wrench but couldn't get to it either. Clank saw Jak move to help but stopped him. "No Jak, the platform is too small, you will knock Ratchet and I on to the floor too." Jak stopped, a helpless look in his face. Ratchet leaned out as far as he dared. The lava was getting close now and he could feel its heat on his sensitive nose. "Come…on…." he said but it was too late. The lava reached the hero's feet and he began to burn away, his body yielding to the hellish inferno. Ratchet looked away, hearing his screams of agony, and smell of burnt flesh that he knew would haunt him for the rest of his days.

"Well in a twist of fate and surprise the Blue Yonder is burned alive before our very eyes!" said the announcer. "and what do our surviving heroes get Juanita?" A feminine voice took over. "The get an all expenses paid trip to the Dreadzone holding complex, where they will wait and rest for their newest missions to entertain our fans. They will be pampered beyond all reason. Complete with Jacuzzi tubs, work out facilities, and waterbeds, Dreadzone has spared no expense. This season enjoying our generous accommodations will be Kid Nova, Hydro Girl, Agent Zero, Mustang, Jak, Daxter, Ratchet, Clank, Plasma Woman, Electro Boy, The Amazing Equalizer, and Mr. Untouchable." "And what a season starter eh Juanita?" the masculine voice resumed. "The qualifying round is over but this is only the beginning Dreadzone fans! Toon-in next week for the real fun!"

Ratchet felt sick, and from the looks of it so did Jak and Daxter. No one seemed very happy about his or her "All expenses paid trip." They had started out with well over twenty heroes, now only twelve remained. What would be waiting for him in the next death course they put him in? Only time would tell. But one thing was for sure; this was going to be one hell of a ride.

Thanks for reading chapter two. This is only the beginning. Let me know what you think, good or bad.


	3. Chapter 3: R&R and Armor

Author's Notes 

I'm glad you all liked the last chapter. It was hard killing off so many characters so quickly, but this is Dreadzone, no rest for the weary right?

This one won't be nearly as action packed. Sorry to bring it down a bit but even heroes need some down time.

**Now that our heroes have survived the qualifying round they are teleported from the pillars to their new quarters…**

Chapter 3 R&R and armor 

The teleporter fizzled around Ratchet's ears and the view of the arena and the smell of brimstone faded away, replaced by the view of a dark apartment-like room. The lombax shook off the slight nausea always experienced with teleporting and took in his surroundings. It was a small room, with four water beds, and a weight set in one corner. Ratchet herd a cough from behind him that made him jump and prepare his wrench, but it was only Jak and Daxter. They had been teleported too and from the looks of it they had never been teleported before. They looked a bit green. They fanned out and began to search the place. Clank leaped off Ratchet's back and searched as well. The beds where lined up two by two on either side of the room. The far wall was a huge window displaying a glorious view of the stars (and some of the space station they where in.) It was not much unlike Clank's old apartment in Megapolis. "Hay look at this!" yelled Daxter from a cross the room. Ratchet turned from the view to see. Daxter was standing in a door way looking in. Clank was with him and looked in.

"Yes," said Clank "it appears to be a bathroom."

"Not just a bathroom!" said Daxter "It's a freaking palace!" Ratchet looked in. It was a truly beautiful bathroom. Complete with a Jacuzzi tub large enough to fit six lombax. Everything was lined with gold trim and it smelled of Levorix. (A plant found in the Florrana jungle much like lavender but more sweet smelling.) The sweet smell stung Ratchets nose and he moved on, not too impressed. "Hay, I found the computer room." Said Jak seeming uninterested. Ratchet went to the door Jak was next to and entered. Three large halo screens surrounded a small chair in a semi-circle fashion. The chair could swivel and a keyboard that swung over to the side much like Clank's on the Star Ship Phoenix. Upon closer inspection it was Clank's chair from the Phoenix. They had torn it out, bolts and all and reattached it to the floor hear.

Ratchet snickered at the irony that they had gotten the same room that the stolen chair had been put in but then stopped. What if it wasn't irony? What if they had planned this? Four water beds, Clank's chair, the resemblance to their old apartment, it all seemed too coincidental. What if they had survived the battle, not because of their skill, but because who ever was in charge wanted them to? The idea that his life was in the hands of a C.E.O. made him shutter and his fur stood on end for a moment.

Further searching had revealed a chief-o-matic that vended and prepared food, a worktable in the form of a chair for who knows what, and a vender of some kind. (it was turned off). Suddenly their was a beep over an intercom hidden somewhere. "Attention all new heroes, my name is Glemen Vox, I will be your captor for your next few months in Dreadzone. You will notice by now your quarters will fill all your needs and are very luxurious, please respect our hospitality and don't break anything. It will not be replaced." The voice sounded very monotonic, as if Mr. Vox had done this way to many times. "The time you will operate on is Dreadzone standard time. It is currently 2:35 am DZ time. Set your alarms for 6:00 pm DZ time and prepare for teleportation at 6:25 pm DZ time. That's right we are giving you the entire rest of the day cycle to rest. Take advantage of it, it may not happen again. Make yourselves comfortable, you may be spending the rest of your lives hear." The intercom clicked off.

"Nice guy," said Daxter "Think he eats boring for breakfast?"

"I have no idea," said Ratchet "but I herd 'rest' and that's what I'm gona do." Ratchet removed his captain's uniform so he was in his boxers and tossed it to the side. It was in taters from the fight but it was still wearable. Then he flopped into bed that moved and rippled under his weight, not even bothering to turn down the covers. Jak did the same. Daxter also jumped into a bed and designated it as his with a long loud yawn, curled up and fell asleep almost instantly.

Clank looked around the room. A bed would do him no good since he was incapable of sleep, and he saw no recharge station in sight. He sighed and went to the computer room. Hopping into the strangely familiar chair he activated the computer. After a few moments of random noise that Clank understood as "Hold on just warming up," the computer's halo screens turned on and asked for an ID to begin. Clank thought for a moment then just entered in his name. Surprisingly his name worked and the computer asked for a new password for his login. Clank chose flicohilexinduser (his mother's maiden name) and the computer took him to a menu. All of the items appeared to be Dreadzone related (accept the internet option). With nothing better to do, Clank began searching what they had to show him.

_Dreadstarion: Darkzone_

_6:00 pm Dreadzone standard Time_

"This is your wake up call," said the intercom. "All heroes are to shower and be on the teleporters in twenty-five minutes."

"No Clank just ten more minutes, the Galactic Ranger drills can wait." Mumbled Ratchet from half consciousness and rolled over.

"Hay, get up." Jak punched him in the arm.

"yow! Hay! What was that for?" Ratchet screamed sitting strait up.

"Oh shut up, I didn't even hit you that hard." Jak was in his clothes already and from the looks of his hair he had been in the shower already. "Now get up and shower, it smells like old dog in hear." Ratchet slid out of bed. "Lombax, not dog, Lombax." He mumbled. Ratchet showered and put his tattered uniform back on. "Ware's Clank?" He said has he pulled the shirt over his head.

"In the computer room." Said Daxter. "I went in to play Glat Bomber online but he was already on it. He's been on it all night it think."

"Thanks." Replied Ratchet and made for the door.

"Hay tell him it's my turn!" shouted Daxter.

Ratchet entered the computer room. All three screens where displaying either a blue prints of something or information of some kind. Clank was in the middle of it all in his swivel chair. "Hay Clank whachya doing?" asked Ratchet putting a hand on the back of the little robot's chair.

"Finding anything that will be useful to us hear. Weaknesses of enemies, vehicle information, plants we will be going to."

"Wait Planets we will be going to?" interrupted Ratchet. "That's perfect! We can escape when they are trying to ship us somewhere!"

"Not likely," replied Clank "I have been over the transport ship's blue prints and programming. It has a self distract mechanism that will go off if any prisoner leaves the ship before schedule or if the nav. computer is tapered with. I see no way this ship can help us."

"Well that blows." Said Ratchet. "Say aren't you tired? Daxter said you've been in hear all night."

"Daxter is correct, I have been in hear all night. But no, I am not tired. I have enough power for three day cycles before me next recharge is required."

"Ok, suit yourself." said Ratchet shrugging

"Hay Ratchet!" said Jak from outside the door. "It's 6:23, we gotta go!"

"Move your furry but!" added Daxter.

"Come on Clank, lets go join Elf-boy and weasel man." Ratchet jerked a thumb behind him.

"That is ok, you go. I will stay." Replied Clank as he typed.

"What? But the Vox guy said we HAVE to go. He'll probably have some of those Executioner guys come and disintegrate you."

"I do not think so," replied Clank calmly. "You are reporting for new armor. No armor is available for robots so I would be wasting my time. Please go and acquire your armor. I will search for ways to customize it while you are gone since you seem to like that sort of thing."

"Ok, if you really think so." Ratchet left the little robot to his typing and Joined Jak and Daxter on the teleporters.

"Jez what took you so long? Had to kiss your robot goodbye?" said Daxter

"Oh shut up." Replied Ratchet. The teleporters activated at exactly 6:25. and took them to a large room filled with holo screens, and different kinds of tools hanging from the ceiling from robotic arms. The room wreaked of old robot oil and burned rubber. It looked a lot like something out of a horror vid. "Hay gues!" said someone from behind a table. Al straitened up behind it. "How are ya!"

"Al!" said Ratchet.

"You know this guy?" said Jak

"Yea I do." Said Ratchet. "I thought you where dead!"

"Well I would have been." Said Al. "but they didn't dump me into the arena like you guys, by the way Ratchet nice work with the running and the hurting and shooting."

"Yea, yea anyway…" said Ratchet urging him on.

"Well they brought me to their boss, Glemen Vox, and he told them to disintegrate me, he's not a very nice guy you know, But they told him how I had single handedly killed an Executioner."

"You killed one of those big robot goons?" said Ratchet

"Yes," said Al rather annoyed at the Lombax's distrust in his skills "with one of my plasma grenades I was going to sell to Gagitron."

"Wow, they must be really powerful, do you have anymore?" said Ratchet hopefully. He always loved massively destructive weaponry.

"Sadly no, the one I threw at the robot was my only prototype. It worked beutifily with the reds and the blues and." Ratchet gave him he get-on-with-it look. "Uh, anyway he became interested in how I killed it. I told him how and he said he was going to make my your guys'es mechanical engineer. Cool hu?"

"What's the catch?" Said Ratchet suspiciously crossing his arms.

"Well he said I have to charge you for my services. But don't worry it's not to bad. The armor is free! Oh also he said I have to make him a working plasma grenade." Said Al

"You what!" exclaimed Ratchet "You can't make him one! His lousy DZ strikers are strong enough without that kind of fire power!"

"Well he's not giving them to the DZ strikers." Said Al

"Oh, that's good." Ratchet relaxed

"He's giving them to the Executioners." Said Al

"Oh that's much better, thanks Al," replied Ratchet sarcastically.

"Sounds to me like you should stall as much as you can if this weapon is as powerful as you say." Said Jak

"Well du!" said Al "What to you think I am a n00b?" Al laughed in his nerdy nasally way. "Anyway, I assume you guys are hear for your new armor right? Well it so happens I have it all ready for you. It's over their." Al pointed to the left of Ratchet. The lombax moved in that direction. "Yours is their too Jak go take a look." A pod slightly larger that Ratchet was before him. Next to it was one slightly larger than Jak. Al pushed a button and the pods slid open slowly with a hiss. Inside where the most impressive suits of armor Ratchet had ever seen. It was a maroonish color with black trim, the joints plat looked flexible and easily manipulated. The fingers on the gloves ended in claws. It had large shoulder guards with spikes on them. "This is the DZ 6-900. It is fully compatible with any organic life form that can fit in it. It has full system read out in the H.U.D as well and environmental status display, light/dark compensator, nano pack, ammo pack, internal climate control and ultra comfort jell lining. It's way better than your old Infernox armor Ratchet. Also I took the liberty of modifying it to be compatible with your quick select, put a place for your tail in it like your old Infernox armor and put in a place for Clank to latch on."

"What's the mettle made of?" asked Ratchet pulling on one of the gloves.

"Uh, well, I'm not sure, actually. It's not as strong a Carbonox but its darn close. Hold on a sec." Said Al. "You need this." Al tossed him his old green under armor from Megacorp in his commando days. It was designed to fit under any armor and get rid of any strange folds that the armor would create in normal clothing. Gagitron had made a similar style under armor, but the Megacorp stuff was better.

"Way cool, ware did you find this!" said Ratchet pulling it on and discarding his Captain's uniform.

"I had the Executioners that captured us get it for you before we left." Said Al proudly

"And not my weapons?" said Ratchet "What kind of…"

"They wouldn't get them even if I had asked. Come on Ratchet you've seen how careful they are with you heroes. Do you think they would just let you carry your doom's day armory into a prison ship?" Al suddenly got very solemn. "Oh, uh, that reminds me." Al pulled out four orange rings. They looked rather heavy and packed with teck. "These are Deadlock collars." Said Al sadly. "I have to put one on all of you or mine will be detonated." Al held them out to them.

"What do they do?" asked Ratchet taking one.

"They uh, explode, if you don't do what they say." Said Al. Ratchet noticed one on Al's neck.

"Looks like we have no choice." Said Ratchet and buckled his on. Daxter put his tiny version on and Al held out one to Jak

"I'm not putting that thing on!" said Jak "I won't be controlled like this."

"Come on Jak," said Daxter "Do you really want to see the inside of fat boy's head hear?" but it was no use. Maybe the room with robotic arms was too much for him, or maybe he just had control issues, but Jak was loosing it.

"NO! NO! I won't ware it!" he yelled "NO!"

"Calm down Jak." Said Daxter from his shoulder. "You don't want to lose it now do you?" Daxter looked worried for some reason.

"NO!" yelled Jak. He was hysterical now. "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME PRAXTUS! YOU CANT MAKE ME TAKE THE ECO!"

"Uh oh." Said Daxter and jumped off his shoulder and stood next to Ratchet. Small bolts of black lightning started emitting from his body. Ratchet had his wrench out now ready to club him if he came to close.

"Duck!" yelled Al and Ratchet hit the floor. A small glowing yellow dart flew through the air and hit Jak in the neck. He wavered for a moment and fell do the ground.

"No, no you can't make me, you can't make me Praxtus." He said quietly as the drug knocked him out.

"They said that might happen." Said Al. "No matter. Let's get you to into your armor and back to your quarters.

"What was that all about?" said Ratchet to Daxter

"Well…" Daxter hesitated rubbing the back of his neck. "Jak was in lab for two years and they did a lot of dangerous stuff to him. Seeing this place and having you buddy their offer him death on a platter must uh triggered those memories."

"I see." Said Ratchet. "Well as much as he doesn't want to we have to put one on him. I don't want to see what color Al's blood is."

"Me either." Replied Daxter and together they put the Deadlock collar on Jak, and his armor. Daxter was too small for armor but got a rebreather mask instead, just incase. Ratchet put his armor on a grabbed a collar for Clank, who probably already knew it was coming.

"You guys be careful out there." Said Al as they left "And don't piss off Vox! He has the button to your collars."

**Like I said not as exiting but necessary. Let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4: Zombie Playground

**Author's Notes**

**Thank you everyone who reviewed my last chapter. It's good to know I have fans even during the less exiting times of the story.**

**My spelling and grammar will not likely improve unfortunately. I am using spell check so all I know is with the software and my proof reading. If nether of us catches it than I'm just S.O.L. Unless I get an editor there is not much I can do about it. **

**Also, sorry it has taken me so long to update. With the holidays and all I was unable to get to a computer long enough to do any damage.**

**As we join our heroes yet again, they are extremely board. It's been about a week since the qualifying round and everyone is a bit restless… **

Chapter 4

Zombie Playground

"Argh! I'm so BOARD!" yelled Daxter from his bed. Jak didn't stir at all from his. He seemed to be rather accustomed to Daxter's random outbursts. "I swear if I have to stay hear one more minuet I'm gona explode!" Ratchet was getting rather annoyed with the rodent's constant jabbering. If he wasn't trying to do some stupid dace routine in the middle of the floor to relive his boredom, he was making everyone else's boredom worse. In short, Ratchet was ready to strangle the little fuzz-wad.

Clank on the other hand didn't seem at all interested in the activities of the others. He had been glued to the computer ever since he had found it their first day in the complex. A recharge unit had teleported in about 5 days ago and he used that every so often, but much to Daxter's dismay he had stayed in the chair even when sleeping. Charging, resting? Anyway that's ware Clank's backside had been parked for some time. It was starting to bother Ratchet as well as Daxter. Even on the Phoenix, Clank hadn't' been this absorbed in the computer. Presently Ratchet was lifting a small dumbbell at the bench press while sitting. He didn't want his hard earned muscle to die off just because he was a prisoner. Jak didn't seem to care very much about his own condition. He mostly lazed about all day. It didn't hurt anyone so Ratchet didn't complain much.

Jak seemed to get strength from within somehow. Ratchet remembered how he had combated the DZ strikers with only his fists. Even with his wrench Ratchet had hurt his hands from the vibration of hitting such a solid object. So how did Jak do it with his bare hands?

"Attention all heroes," came the intercom voice of Vox, "suit up and prepare for departure. You will be leavening in ten minutes."

"Finally, Some action!" exclaimed Daxter leaping from his bed. Ratchet and Jak put on their armor in and waited for the next instructions. Clank wandered out into the main room. "Well, well," said Daxter from Jak's shoulder. "Look who's up and about. Say is it my turn to obsess over the computer now?" Clank ignored him and attached himself to Ratchet's back.

"Any idea ware we're going?" asked Ratchet to his little mettle companion.

"Yes, to Caterom four. It is an ancient robot burial site." Replied Clank from his back.

"What could they possibly hope to kill us with in a cemetery?" said Jak.

"It is rumored to be home to many Zombies" said Clank "but it is only a rumor."

"Psh," spat Daxter "I don't' believe in that kind of crap." A small ship appeared outside their window and a docking port extended from the side of it to their window that opened up around it like a gel as it pushed through.

"Well," said Ratchet "guess that's our ride." All four of them got into the ship and the side door closed, retracted the docking port and sped off to a larger ship. The ship they where headed towards was very similar to the one that had brought them to the Dreadstation but it was larger and obviously had more thrust behind it. It also looked like a "segmented square sausage" as Daxter put it. The ship they where currently in lifted into an open trap door on the bottom of the ship, that closed behind them. They where then released into a fully furnished room complete with big screen holo-vid.

"Sure gotta hand it to um," said Ratchet, "they don't skimp on the pleasantries around hear." They all ended up wandering to the couch or chairs. As they did the holo-vid came on showing a strange triangular symbol that looked vaguely like a DZ striker's face. Then Vox came onto the screen.

"Welcome, to the Dreadzone transport," said Vox "This will take you to all of your off-station missions. You will notice their are no exits to the left or the right of you. In the case of an emergency you will be informed you are about to die. Your armor can be used as a sinking device in the case of a water crashing. Seat belts will not be provided, as we don't expect any of you to try anything smart and rile the ship in anyway. And incase you get any ideas, the ship is set to self-destruct incase it deviates from it course or the nav. computer is tampered with. If you have any questions shove it and move on. Have a nice flight."

"Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Vox the biggest ass-hole in the galaxy!" said Daxter.

"Caterom four is about a day's flight from this station." Said Clank.

"You mean more nothing to do? I don't know if I can take it." Said Daxter with a groan.

"Say, uh, Clank was it?" said Jak. Clank nodded. " How do you know so much about all this stuff?"

"When I was on the computer I was viewing stats of our enemies, environment schematics of all the land that Vox owns that Dreadzone takes place on and many other things." Replied Clank with pride.

"Oh, well good work that will be really useful I'll bet." Said Jak

The ship did take a day to get to Caterom four, after another day with Daxter's complaining, Ratchet was more than ready to kill something. They slept on the floor of the couch, depending on who fell ware until the ship began its reentry decent to the planet's surface jarring them to consciousness. Over the intercom a robotic voice informed them that they had arrived at Caterom four and should prepare for battle. Then almost before the intercom clicked off, the doors beneath them opened and dropped them to the planet's surface. Well, not the surface exactly, in reality they landed on a pile of Robot parts that stretched three miles to the planet's actually surface. With its load dropped, the ship sped off.

"No, tip for you!" yelled Daxter shaking a fist at the ship and pulling a shard of mettle out of his fanny. Ratchet herd his quick select beep, indicating it was on. Then a small vid screen appeared before him and went directly to the mission's window. In light blue letters scrolling across the screen was their mission.

□Destroy the burial dome.

"What's' the burial dome?" said Ratchet closing the screen.

"The place ware one comes to mourn the dead." Said Clank from Ratchet's back.

"Ok," Ratchet pulled his mapilator off his belt and turned it on. "It says the burial dome it about twenty miles north. Lets get moving." With a direction in mind the party moved out trudging through the mounds of parts and scraps that covered the planet's surface. They walked for well over an hour and only got about two miles. "Jez, how many robots are buried hear?" complained Ratchet.

"Over 6.7 billion robots have been laid to rest hear Ratchet, but how it that relevant to our mission?" said Clank

"Never mind." Replied Ratchet, rolling his eyes at his companion's cut and dry attitude.

"At least we haven't run into any zombies." Said Daxter mockingly. Even as he said it a clawed metallic hand reached up through the debris and began to pull its owner out of the would-be ground. Simultaneously hundreds of hands began to do the same all around them.

"You had to say it didn't you?" said Jak glairing at Daxter who shrugged and grinned sheepishly. Ratchet pulled out his Duel vipers and readied for when the monsters would completely breach the surface. Jak did the same with his Magma Cannon. At once they where surrounded by zombies.

Ratchet opened fire sending a deadly stream of plasma bolts at the foes. He could hear the loud crack of the Magma cannon firing behind him. The zombies closed in. For every one he killed three more seemed to appear in its place. The circle closed slowly around them. Closing off any hopes of escape. As the circle closed Ratchet saw the razor sharp claws shining in the sun and knew their was no way he could beat them all down with his wrench if they came to close to shoot. Clank began to fire away with his zapper and Daxter began shouting insults just as quickly.

"Jak, any ideas?" said Ratchet over the roar of his guns and moan of the zombies.

"Just keep shooting!" he yelled back. It seemed that's all they could do. Ratchet glanced at the ammo count on his H.U.D. It read 53 and was dropping fast. Within seconds the guns where empty, and useless. He put them away and pulled out his wrench.

"We could be in trouble Clank." Said Ratchet waiting for his adversaries to come within striking range.

"Are we not always in trouble?" replied Clank with a smile. Ratchet herd Jak's Magma Cannon click signaling it was empty.

"I'm out!" yelled Jak.

"Me too." Replied Ratchet. The zombies closed in. Then over the grotesque heads of the zombies, Ratchet spotted their savior. A Stalker tank sat not twenty feet away just past the zombie horde sat begging for him to use it. The only problem was how to get to it without being torn to shreds.

"Jak!" said Ratchet

"yea?" he replied

"How far do you think you can throw me?" asked Ratchet the zombies shuffled closer.

"I don't know, uh, ten feet maybe?" he said confused.

"Good enough. Throw me that way!" said Ratchet

"Hu?" said Jak turning towards him

"That way! Throw me that way! Then get down!" yelled Ratchet. Jak looked to ware he was pointing then smiled knowing what Ratchet was planning.

"Ok," Jak picked him up. "Go!" Jak threw him with all his might. Ratchet flew about twelve feet into the air and fourteen feet towards the Stalker tank. The zombies looked up at him as he flew over them. Just as the monsters began to get bigger as Ratchet fell, Clank's thruster rockets activated by second nature and carried them the remaining six feet to the gunner seat of the Stalker tank and placed them gently into it. The cock-pit closed and the tank came to life with a few beeps and clicks. Ratchet charged the mortars and fired. The deadly bombs blasted robot parts everywhere, some from the zombies and some from the mound. Again and again Ratchet unleashed the furry off the mortars into the crowd of zombies until not one was left standing on the smoking partially melted heap of scattered mettle. In the middle of the fray stood Jak and Daxter slightly blackened from the blasts but other wise unharmed.

Jak walked to the tank and Ratchet opened the cock-pit. Jak climbed in with Daxter on his shoulder.

"Nice shooting." He said

Ratchet glanced over the tank's readouts. It was slightly different than the DZ striker's tank they had hijacked back in the battle dome apparently this tank had an inventory.

"Look, said Ratchet, "This tank has extra ammo for us. And something called an Arbiter?" Ratchet leaped back out of the tank and to the back ware he found a holding bay covered by a removable plate. His quick select instantly sucked up the ammo he needed for his vipers. Ratchet tossed the Magma Cannon ammo over the top of the tank to Jak, Ratchet could hear Jak's quick select suck up the ammo. Then Ratchet saw the rocket launcher. He lifted in up carefully and examined it. It was fairly light for its size and had a superb aiming lazar. Ratchet stored it away in his inventory and hopped back into the tank. The cock-pit closed.

"Which way?" said Jak as he put his hands on the controls. Ratchet cheeked his mapilator.

"That way." He said pointing. "Turn around." Replied Ratchet. Jak turned the turret to the north and the legs fallowed pushing them onwards. Ratchet kept the mortars charged even though the few zombies that they encountered on the way where easily torn apart by the plasma gantline guns under Jak's control. Clank, being tired of being sat on forced his way out from behind of Ratchet and sat down on the armrest. They traveled on until dark. They found that the Stalker tank had no headlights, and the charged mortars only lit up the path about three feet. Jak suggested they rest until morning. Ratchet agreed and put the tank in silent mode so any detection devices the DZ strikers had wouldn't detect them. Bathed in red light from the silent mode setting Ratchet, Jak, and Daxter fell asleep uncomfortably in their seats. Clank took it upon himself to keep watch through the gunner's monitors on the dash.

The night wore on for all the heroes on the planet. Unknown to our heroes, every survivor of the qualifying round was on the planet somewhere. All with different missions that where practically suicide. They hunkered down for the darkness that would haunt them as they slept. The moans and clanks of the zombies kept most of them awake and prevented a good rest and likely saved most of their lives. Wishing for the beds back a Dreadstation some nodded off, one of them to never open his eyes again. The morning would find Mustang's mighty body strewn over the landscape. Only his armor was missing, stolen by the zombies to keep them running.

Ratchet felt his stomach turn the way it had when Blue Yonder had burned up just out of his reach as he looked at the seen from the gunner's monitors. Morning had broken only a half hour before and they had moved out. The tank's sensors had picked up organic matter so they deviated from their course to see what it was only to find this gruesome sight.

"Come on Jak, lets get out of hear." Said Ratchet.

"Yea," he replied, and shifted the tank back to their objective. One hour later they where at a chasm that separated what Daxter had called the junk-lands from actual land. Just past a hill they could see the burial dome. They all climbed out of the tank and peered across the canyon.

"Well, now what?" said Ratchet.

"We'll jump." Said Jak as if it where obvious. He walked back a bit and got into a runners position. Then with a bolt of speed Jak ran towards the gap. With a mighty leap Jak sailed across the chasm and with a thump and a roll he landed on the other side kicking up some dust.

"Come on Ratchet, I wana get off this hell-hole!" Jak yelled back. Ratchet looked at the rift then stepped back.

"Ready Clank?" he said

"Always." Replied his metallic friend. Ratchet stepped back into the running position ran with all his might. Reaching the literal end of the road he launched into the air. Clank gave his all to a thrust, and sent them an extra ten feet foreword. The other side lurched forward towards them, and then began to fall away. Ratchet struggled to grab something, anything to save himself. He latched onto something and looking up he saw it was Jak's hand. Jak was on his belly half off the edge holding Ratchet back from his fall to death. Ratchet planted his feet on the rock face and jumped up with the aid from Clank's thrusters. All three of them flew over the edge of the cliff and landed with a thump in a heap. Ratchet quickly got up and dusted himself off.

"Thanks." He said "I owe you one."

Jak shook his head "No, Now we're even. You saved me from the zombies yesterday. They high-fived and turned around to see a line of zombies watching them groaning and grumbling.

"Oh crap." Said Ratchet pulling out his Duel Vipers

"Ware did they come from?" yelled Daxter scrabbling to Jak's shoulder.

"I don't know ware they came from," said Jak angrily, "but I know ware their going." Jak dubbed over seemingly in pain. Ratchet stepped forward and put his hand on Jak's back.

"What? What's going on?" he said confused. Dark lightning started emitting from Jak's body like when they where in Al's shop.

"_Ratchet_…" said Jak in a strange double voice.

"What?" said Ratchet stepping back

"Get back!" he yelled. Suddenly he roared and his skin turned a dark blue and his eyes became an endless black. His nails grew into claws and the dark lightning flew everywhere. Jak's DZ armor buckled and fell away to his newly acquired bulk. Ratchet jumped back as Jak charged forward. Roaring and slashing the zombies tried to fight back but no matter how many times they struck Jak he just kept coming. Saliva streaming from his mouth Jak tore them in half, severed limbs, bit out throats and utterly obliterated his foes. Just as Ratchet thought he was finished as he was surrounded Jak leaped into the air raising a fist clouded with dark energy and slammed it into the ground sending a shock wave of black energy along the ground in all directions. The zombies blew apart as it blasted them away, leaving Jak alone in the middle breathing heavily and drooling. Then the energy subsided and the original Jak stood before his friends.

"Wow, remind me never to piss you off." Said Ratchet flabbergasted.

"That's what I said the first time I saw him do that." Said Daxter. After calming down a bit the group made their way up to the burial dome via a convenient ramp. They entered finding an island of mettle in the middle of a bottomless pit. Stepping across the only bridge to the island they looked around the massive structure. A computer screen floated down. Clank jumped off Ratchet's back to speak with it.

"Greetings, to you fellow technological being." said the computer. "Please step aside wile I eliminate the biological life forms fallowing you." At this Ratchet and Jak pulled out their weapons.

"Cancel that." Said Clank

"Elimination Canceled" said the computer. Ratchet and Jak exhaled. Clank began speaking in the strange clicks and beeps of the robot language. After a moment the computer replied in normal fashion. "Self destruct activated. Two minutes to detonation." It said. Ratchet grabbed Clank and all four of them ran away from the burial dome. Well out of range they looked back to see the massive structure explode in a magnificent display of firepower to do even Ratchet proud.

"Mission accomplished" said Clank as they teleported back to the transport ship.


	5. Chapter 5: Ware the Laviathen Roam

**Author's Notes**

**Greetings all, as always thank you for reviewing, those of you who did. Special thanks to ****Chaos Wielder** **who has been extremely encouraging through this entire process.**

**I'm not quite sure how long I'm going to make this fan fic. The original idea was to put Ratchet and Jak through all of the levels in the Dreadzone game, but some of the levels just don't provide interesting enough stories to do anything with. So I may end up skipping a few **

**So with all of that said I give you…**

**Chapter 5**

**Ware the Leviathan roam.**

After destroying the burial dome on Catacrom four, Ratchet had assumed they would be going back to Dreadstation, but they had spent three days on the transport ship, well over how long it would take to get back. Clank suggested that they must be going to another planet. Daxter suggested that the ship must have gone off course and they where all gona die. Despite the weasel's optimism Ratchet, felt better to be in the transport ship than back on the ground (or the would-be ground) of Catarcrom four.

Jak and Ratchet had decided to pass the time practicing hand-to-hand combat with each other. Ratchet had been in his share of fist fights as a kid, being an orphan and all at age 12, so he wasn't half bad but Jak was something else. He had obviously fought for his life with his bare hands more than once. Jak taught Ratchet some useful tips for melee fighting, and in turn Ratchet taught what he had learned about gun use, like how to lead a target (aiming at a moving target for those of you unfamiliar with that term.) And how to aim long range. This was rather difficult thought since their quick-selects had been turned off again. With no actual weapons to practice with, Ratchet had simply had to try and explain the techniques to Jak the best he could.

Presently Ratchet was half asleep on the small couch dreaming of the Phoenix's famous meatloaf, when a small metallic finger prodded him in the rib.

"Hay Clank, what's up?" said Ratchet groggily.

"I may have a way for us to escape." Said Clank in a whisper.

"Really, how?" Ratchet sat up quickly

"Shhh." Clank hissed putting his small hand over Ratchet's mouth. "The room is bugged," he whispered. "But I have made them less sensitive for now with an increase and change in my radio frequency, however they will figure out what I have done soon so we must be quick."

"Ok," said Ratchet quietly as he could. "What's your plan?"

"You have noticed the small box next to the Holo-vid, correct?" replied Clank

"Yea, but I didn't touch it since I don't want to blow us all away by messing with anything." Said Ratchet

"Well, I scanned it and found out that it is a computer terminal. It is normally used for small scale maintenance for the oxygen levels, thermostat, and other things in this room." Said Clank slyly

"Clank I don't thing the old 'my friends are suffering from oxygen deprivation, could you open the cell door to help them' trick will work on thesis guys." Replied Ratchet.

"No, I will not change the oxygen levels, I will hack into the computer's long-range communicator and send out a distress call on the Phoenix's secure line with Dreadstation's location included so they can try and rescue us." Said Clank quietly

"But won't you blow up the ship by messing with the computer?" said Ratchet a little more loudly than he had intended, causing Jak to perk up and listen.

"Shhh," Clank hissed again. "No, if I tamper with the nav. computer that will cause the ship to explode. But the communication computer is not connected to the nav. computer so we will be safe." Replied Clank

Ratchet thought for a moment, evaluating the situation. He glanced at Jak who was looking at the Lombax and the robot quizzically. "Ok, but be quick about it." He said

"Good, I am glad you agree, however the bug will soon be operational again soon so you should do something to make noise and distract anyone listening to us." Said Clank

"Can do." Said Ratchet with a thumbs up. "Now get to it. I want to get back home soon." With that Clank slid away to the terminal to do his dirty work. Ratchet walked over to Jak who was now on his feet.

"What was that all about? What is Clank…" Jak started but was quickly interrupted.

"No you're a dirty blarg-faced shizno!" shouted Ratchet thinking of the best insult he could.

"What!" said Jak taken aback and rather angered. Ratchet winked at him and motioned to Clank who was starting his tinkering. Jak raised an eyebrow and then looked back to Ratchet and nodded with a smile. "Well it takes one to know one!" said Jak wincing at his comeback's weakness, even though it was only for a distraction.

"Well elf-boy if you don't like how things are done in my squad maybe I'll just shoot you myself when a get my guns back." Yelled Ratchet.

"Not if I shoot you first!" Jak spat back

"You couldn't' hit the fat side of Quark let alone me!"

"What are you talking about; all your sides are a fat side!"

"HA! Your mom could sit on a snaggle beast and suffocate it in seconds! And you call me fat?"

By now Daxter was awake and herd the argument. Not in on the secret he thought Ratchet and Jak where fighting again like on the prison ship. Not about to let his friend go into battle alone, Daxter jumped to his feet and ran into the fray.

"Listen up cat-man!" began Daxter "You think you're so big but I'll tell you something! Your noting but a low down, dirty, muck racking, snot spewing, pimple covered, shit jumping, eco eating excuse for a hero!" Daxter took a breath but it was too much for Ratchet and Jak. They started to laugh hysterically until they where both on the ground and holding their sides. Then when they thought they would explode from their fit of silliness they stopped and began to catch their breath. Daxter was completely baffled his ears hung at an odd angle and he had such a strange look on his face that Ratchet and Jak broke into hysterics again. After the second fit, Clank came over to them.

"All finished, the message has been sent. I also disabled the sound bugs for a while again." Said Clank

"Good work, lets hope they get it." Replied Ratchet between breaths. He had laughed so hared he had tears in his eyes.

"Message?" said Daxter. Jak regained his composure and assumed his normal mysterious attitude.

"Who did you send it to?" he asked

"The ship that Ratchet was captain of before whew her captured. The Phoenix." Replied Clank

"Captain? Phoenix? What?" said Daxter becoming more confused by the minuet.

"Yea they owe me a few so they should come for us." Said Ratchet to Jak

"STOP IGNORING ME! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" shouted Daxter with a huff.

Ratchet held back his laughter. "We'll tell you later Daxter." Replied Jak

A day after the message had been sent Vox came back on the holo-vid, meaning that they where probably coming close to the new planet.

"Greetings remaining heroes." He began "now that you are officially veterans of Dreadzone we will not be holding back anymore. You are now being transported to a swamp infested planet called Sarthos. So put on your armor and your smiles, you are on camera as always in battle so make it look good. I was very disappointed with some of you on Catacrom four. I won't mention names but our cameras caught some of you crying and whining." Vox then let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like Hydro Girl. "Now then have fun and try to say dry." Vox waved and the screen turned off.

"Cameras?" said Ratchet "What cameras?"

"Dreadzone is a holo-vid show." Said Clank. "They use orbital cameras to watch our progress. I thought you knew Ratchet, sorry."

The ship entered Sarthose's atmosphere with a thump and then slowed to a lazy glide. Or so it felt like, their still weren't any windows so they could only guess.

"Team Darkstar," said the intercom in that same robotic voice as before. "Prepare for drop."

"Who the hell is team Darkstar?" said Ratchet

"Don't know" said Jak "Mabby it's those…" the floor fell away and they landed with a splash in the marsh.

"Damn it all!" yelled Daxter "Can't you warn a guy!" he yelled at the ship as it flew away not hearing or caring again.

Ratchet hefted his Arbiter onto his shoulder. "I think they did, we must be team Darkstar." He said

"Nice name…" said Jak loading his Magma Cannon and cocking a shell into place. "What's our mission this time?" Ratchet brought up the faint hologram menu and informed them of what it read:

⁭**Locate Puma assault vehicle**

⁭ **Locate four lair keys**

⁭**Destroy King Leviathan**

"Well let's go. I don't like this place, it's to humid." Said Ratchet

"I do not like it ether," agreed Clank latching onto Ratchet's back "I will rust quickly in such an environment." The headed down a trail they seemed to be on. Finding a warm of strange sandshark-like creatures Ratchet switched to his vipers and quickly dispatched them. Even Daxter got in on it this time and killed two with some punches.

They moved on until they found a small building guarded by two strange scorpion-like creatures pacing back and fourth. Being natural inhabitants of the region Ratchet thought they would be easily dispatched like the small swamp swarmers. But as he opened fire on the beasts he knew he was sadly mistaken. His puny plasma bolts only bounced off of the now obvious armor of the beasts. They charged the team, and now they looked mad. The brought their tails forward as if to strike.

"Ratchet! I'm detecting high levels of light energy form their tails!" said Clank quickly

"In laymen's terms Clank!" shouted Ratchet as green energy swelled around the three-pronged tip of the monsters' tails

"Lazars! Get down!" shouted Clank. Used to obeying Clanks orders while he was in battle, Ratchet threw himself into the mud. He heard Jak do the same with a squishy splash. Green, burning lazar flew over their heads just missing the tip of Ratchet's ears' after the short assault Ratchet leaped to his feet, Arbiter in hand, and fired the powerful rocket. The rocket, easily finding it's mark, blew thick armored shell and slimy green bits everywhere. Jak charged forward unloading a few shots into the other beast's face blowing away some of its armor then, jumping onto its back, jammed his foot into its neck with a snap and the creature fell dead.

"You know," said Ratchet walking past him. "You can stop showing off anytime." His visor was covered in mud and grass from hitting the dirt when under attack. The only reason he had hit the beast was by his HUD's red 'locked on' indicator. He tried to wipe it away but only made it worse as he discovered his clawed gloves where caked with mud as well. With a sigh he pushed the button to lower the armor's helmet into the chest piece.

They approached the building to discover the door it was locked. A quick rocket fixed that. With the door in pieces they leaped in guns ready to fight off any enemy that they might find within. They did. Three DZ strikers where waiting on a platform surrounded with thick goo. Ratchet switched to his vipers again and let Jak take the lead with his Magma Cannon. Jak tore into the first with several blasts of red-hot molten metal as Ratchet assaulted the other two with his Vipers. It took almost half of his ammo to take them both down. Just as he was about to complain about the low ammo count and the poor damage inducing power of the guns, they began to glow bluish-white and shake violently. Their form changed before his eyes and they became larger. The guns spoke: "Upgrade complete, added ammo, power, and ricochet ability. New name: Duel Raptors.

"Nice." Said Ratchet with a grin. He was hoping that Vox Industries had kept up with the upgrade fad in the weaponry companys.

"Cool, when do my guns get to do the crazy glowy speeky thing?" said Daxter "Oh wait I don't have one!"

"Stop complaining" Said Ratchet admiring his new prizes. "You couldn't' even lift any guns if you tried." With that they started down the trail leading out of the small enclosure. Outside the open back door was a leviathan guard. With a rocket firmly planted in the monster's head they moved out onto the small platform it was guarding, now covered in green goo, to meet a truly discouraging sight. A small trail built on a huge spinal column across the lake of the fowl smelling brown ooze that covered most of the area and along the trail where tons of DZ strikers and at least four Executioners. To even get to the trail they had to get past a stationary Stalker turret on their left that hadn't seen them yet.

"Say Jak, think you could go all crazy again and get us past those guys." Said Ratchet shifting the Arbiter to point at the stalker turret's weak cockpit windows.

"No, unless I find some dark eco I have to let my body recharge that on it's own." Replied Jak hopelessly

"How long does that take… a week?" said Ratchet lining up his shot

"Months." Replied Jak

"Months!" shouted Ratchet and jerked back a little causing the Arbiter to fire and miss horribly flying well over its intended target. The turret swung around to face them and the gantline guns started turning.

"Shit! Get into the building!" yelled Ratchet. They bolted for the safety of the solid walls of the structure fallowed by a trail of red-hot plasma. They could hear the bolts peel away the outer wall of the building and they knew their cover wouldn't' last long.

"If anyone had any ideas, now would be a good time for them!" shouted Ratchet over the roar of bullets.

"I have one," said Clank from behind Ratchet.

"Ok, shoot." Said Ratchet.

"Quickly," added Jak peaking around the corner. "It's charging its mortars."

"It is risky, but if Jak can spin you around several times to pick up momentum and throw you at the turret you can fire a rocket into the cock pit and hopefully destroy it in one shot." Said Clank

"No time to discuses it!" said Jak grabbing Ratchet's wrist. "It's firing!" Jak pulled Ratchet out into the open as six plasma mortars plowed through the roof of their cover and exploded with a ground-splitting bang. Jak grabbed Ratchets ankle along with his wrist and began to swing him around before the turret could reposition itself.

"H-Hay! What if you miss or if I miss we're screwed!" said Ratchet as he spun about.

Jak's answer was simple:

"Don't miss." And he released Ratchet to the turret. Clank used his thrusters to turn Ratchet around to face the turret that raced towards him. Ratchet struggled to get the Arbiter into place on his shoulder.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…" he repeated over and over again. He finally got the

weapon into position just as the turret was below him and he fired directly into the cock-pit. The carbonox-armor-piercing rocket easily shattered the reinforced glass of the mighty turret and, much to the dismay of the operators, exploded right into the middle display board inside, sending shrapnel and pieces of mettle everywhere. Ratchet landed behind the flaming stump of the turn rod that was once part of the turret.

"Nice flying!" said Jak about forty feet back.

"Should we call that the Ratchetdoken?" added Daxter from his shoulder.

Ratchet sighed and shook his head. "You all really suck." He said

**That's right, I ended the chapter before the made it off the planet. You'll just have to read chapter 6 to see how they deal with the bone trail and the trials of the highlands. Until next time…**


	6. Chapter 6: Bones, Bogs, and Bombs

Author's notes 

**Hay all you Dreadzone fans out there. Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been working on a background based on my story. Once I get it up somewhere I'll give you the URL. Oh and also the whole trying to pass high school thing put a kink in the writhing too. So anyways, I've kept you waiting for long enough. Hear it is:**

Chapter 6 Bones, Bogs, and Bombs 

Ratchet brushed himself off. Jak, and Daxter walked over to him. Jak shouldered his Magma Cannon and motioned with his head to move on. The walked up to the trail made form the spine of God knows what. Apparently the thing had died on its back because the ribs lined the sides of the makeshift trail. Below them the strange brown ooze that created he discussing lake they crossed churned and bubbled.

"I sure don't want to know what these bones belonged to." Said Daxter frightfully. "Cuz it's relatives are probably still around somewhere. Daxter shivered at his own idea.

"Don't worry Daxter." Said Jak "It's probably just a fossil or something. We haven't seen anything remotely that big since we got hear and something like this can't just hide in such low lands."

"Yea right, sure," said Daxter not sounding to reassured.

"Shhhhh." hissed Ratchet quietly ahead of them hiding behind a rib bone and pointed ahead. Jak pressed his back against a rib bone on the opposite side of Ratchet and a bit further back. Looking forward where Ratchet was pointing he saw two Executioners standing guard on either side of the bone trail and three DZ strikers on top of the conjoined ribs above them. One of them held a strange long-barreled gun.

"Ok hears the plan," whispered Ratchet. "We charge the two Executioners and knock them off the bones. Then we shoot the base of the ribs to make the DZ strikers fall off too. Ok?" Jak nodded. "Ok let's go on three." Ratchet held out a clawed fist in Jak's direction, keeping an eye on the enemy.

One finger went up.

One of the Executioners scratched his nose.

Two fingers were up.

A DZ striker yawned.

Three fingers up.

Jak and Ratchet charged forward yelling at the top of their longs. Ratchet in the lead took the first Executioner by surprise and slammed his wrench into its would be gut causing it to double over then using a move Jak had taught him, leaped back on his hands and kicked with both legs effectively pushing the Executioner off the bone trail into the slimy, sticky mess of the lake. Ratchet turned to see Jak side kick the other in the chin, knocking it's head clean off. The body fell to its knees; Jak pushed it into the lake then pulled out his Magma Cannon. He nodded to Ratchet who shouldered his Arbiter. The both fired a round into the base of the rib ringlet and the bone exploded into fragments bouncing off Ratchet's armor with soft dry clunks. Jak guarded his eyes and leaped back. The bones separated and fell into he messy goo with a loud slosh.

Ratchet noticed that no dark orange armored DZ strikers had fallen into the mud with the bone. He glanced up to see all three of them flying above them, supported by jet packs. The one with the strange long barreled gun already had his weapon aimed at Jak.

"Jak look…" Ratchet began, but too late. A loud crack filled the air and echoed around a bit and Jak's shoulder exploded from a laser beam. Jak yelled in pain and fell to the ground. Ratchet leaped to stand over him and got out his Duel Raptors. He opened fire on the DZ strikers, fire that they returned. Ratchet let his armor take the punishment blocking the bolts from striking Jak and blasted the strikers out to the sky. The fell with a metallic scream and splashed into the lake to join their fallen comrades. Ratchet turned around to Jak and leaned down over him. Jak sat up bet fell back down with a yell holding his shoulder, his right one to be exact., crimson liquid seeping through the cracks in his finger. Daxter was yelling something. Ratchet ignored him.

"How bad is it?" he asked.

"Not too bad. I'll bleed but I'll be ok." Replied Jak through clenched teeth.

"Can you stand?" asked the Lombax

"Yea," grimiest Jak "Give me a hand." Ratchet grabbed Jak's good arm and lifted him up. With a groan Jak was on his feet again. He wavered a moment then walked over to pick up his Magma Cannon. He faltered almost plunging head first into the thick smelly goo. Ratchet caught him and stood him back up.

"Hear, tack a minute to rest." Ratchet sat him down with his back to one of the ribs.

"You…don't have a…minute." He said pointing skyward behind Ratchet weakly. About thirty of the other DZ strikers from the trail were lazily floating their way towards the team. Readying their weapons to fire.

"Shit!" cursed Ratchet and shouldered his Arbiter. "Clank," he said to his back

"Yes?" replied Clank

"Guard Jak. Let me know if you need help. You too Daxter" he added sensing the furry creature's comment before it came. Ratchet activated the laser guide to help the rockets find their mark. He aimed at the most condensed part of the sloppy formation and fired. The rocket exploded with a defining roar and shrapnel littered the top of the lake for a moment before it sank into its deaths. Ratchet reloaded and chose another target. He fired and once again the rocket blew away the strikers with no resistance. The remaining battle bots continued to press forward. In a few seconds they would be within firing range.

"Damn," said Ratchet as he reloaded. He wasn't killing them fast enough and they were still out of Duel Raptor Range. Ratchet finished loading and fired at the first one he saw, which was a mistake, the rocket only kill the single target because of its distance from the formation. Ratchet glanced at the digital ammo count on the weapon.

"Only four left." Said Ratchet sadly. He reloaded the gun and looked up to fire again only to find hundreds of laser bolts coming at him. Ratchet yelped and rolled out other way. Jumping to his feet he launched a rocket, missing his target entirely. He rolled again to dodge the incoming artillery. He jumped to his feet again and tried to reload the Arbiter but was forced to move again.

"Three left," Ratchet said to himself and reloaded the gun quickly. Now they were on the trail coming at him wile the others hovered around the edges of the trail firing at their small furry target. He was surrounded. Ratchet dodged what he could and took a lot of hits to his armor. He fired two rockets at the ones who had landed and blew them all away. He reloaded as fast as he could and readied to find a new target. Move landed on the trail and ran towards him. "Last one. Said Ratchet." He fired his last rocket into the crowd and robot pieces rained around him. He put the Arbiter away and took out the duel Raptors. The DZ strikers hovered back away as he unloaded them into their ranks but not into a full out retreat.

Ratchet blasted more and more of them out of the sky but they just kept coming. Finally he heard that fatal click form his guns, meaning there was no more ammo left to save him. Ratchet put he guns away that had served him so well the past few weeks and pulled out his trusty wrench form his belt. If this was how he would die, then he was gonna go down fighting, taking as many as these bastards as he could with him.

"COME ON!" he yelled to them in challenge. They returned his shout with bullets that he dodged. One came close and he threw the wrench at it clipping one of the thrusters sending him flying around in uncontrolled spirals until he hit the brown ooze. One tried to sneak up on him from behind but aided by his acute hearing Ratchet moved just in time to avoid a gun butt to the back of his head and bring the heavy wrench down on it's neck. They moved in for the kill now. Ratchet kept them at bay with some wild swinging of his wrench but knew it was useless. Suddenly the one in front of him lost its head with a loud clang and fell to the ground. A flying piece of metal rounded and flew back to ware it had come. A blue figure caught it easily in one hand and flipped it up and down.

"Wana' try for two?" she said. She was an Aquarian by the look of her with the trademark blue skin and small twin antenna on top of her head and dark, almost black long hair held back in a ponytail. She wore dark blue under armor that fit snugly. She was a little taller than Ratchet by about two inches. She flipped forward into the group next to Ratchet who was completely taken aback by his new ally.

"Hay name's Aqua Girl, I like flowers especially blue roses from Florana, chocolate, but not caramel, my favorite color is green and I'm 23." She said quickly looking at the strikers. "Now that we've had our first date let's get to the fun part." She smiled at the Lombax. Holding her four-winged boomerang dangerously.

Ratchet took a moment and placed his feet in a battle stance. "Let's" he said with an evil smile. They launched in opposite directions over the battle bots. Ratchet landed behind two and swung his wrench around behind him blowing out their knees and sending them into the solid bone of the trail. Then smashed their heads in with two quick slams of his wrench. He charged into the group swinging wildly. Aqua Girl threw her blade with deadly accuracy, decapitating anything in its path. I was used as a close range weapon too. With a flick of the wrist it collapsed into a double bladed knife and she slashed out armor and gears with ease. In no time nothing but robot parts and armor plats threatened them.

"Hell yea! We rock!" yelled the Aquarian. And held out her hand for a high five, which Ratchet took her up on. "Your Ratchet aren't you?" She said. "You must be, no other Lombax fights like you. You saved the Solona galaxy from the Blarg and Dr. Nefarious in the Tyrinoid wars right?" she said.

"Yea and the Bogon galaxy from that Proto Pet mess." He said slightly embarrassed by his own fame.

"Very cool." She said. Suddenly the lower half of a DZ striker launched at her from behind, its deadly claws aimed at her heart. There was no time to react. Then just as its claws were about to cut her flesh its head exploded from a laser beam accompanied by a loud crack that echoed across the lake that came from behind the Lombax. Ratchet turned to see Jak holding the strange gun that the DZ striker had had.

"Do…I always…have to…save…your butt." He wheezed and dropped the gun. Ratchet went over to him and cheeked to wound. It was bleeding really well and Jak was going into shock.

"Oh bad." Said Ratchet. He thought for a moment about what to do. His nano tech couldn't help Jak, and he had none of his own. He needed gauze to field-dress the wound, but Dreadzone hadn't given him any.

"Hear let me help." Said Aqua Girl. She pulled out a pocket Pyrositor that Gagitron had developed recently under the phrase: "Size doesn't matter." She released a small bit of flame on to the wound effectively cauterizing the bloody hole. Jak winced in pain as the flame touched his skin, and quickly relaxed as the wound lost feeling. Ratchet stared at his friend for some moments wondering what to do then suddenly it hit him.

"Clank! Do you still have my old nano pack from the Q-force?" Said Ratchet.

"Yes of course! How could I have forgotten?" said Clank. He opened the small port leading to his compression storage area and produced the small square with the blue life-saving bots floating inside the metal-glass view port. Ratchet placed the item on Jak's stomach and the bots flew out of the microscopic exit ports in the block. The entered Jak's blood stream and healed his wound to the best of their abilities. But it wasn't enough. Jak's shoulder was still badly torn up, but it wouldn't bleed any more.

"Ok Jak," Ratchet put his shoulder under his good arm. "Up we go." He lifted Jak up and hefted him onto his shoulder. Jak moaned in pain.

"I got a Puma a ways back. Lets get him to that." Said Aqua Girl motioning Ratchet to fallow.

"What's a Puma?" asked Ratchet hefting Jak along.

"It's a light armored assault vehicle. It works kind of like the old land cars but it has guns." She replied.

"Oh right, that's one of our missions. To locate the Puma Assault Vehicle." Ratchet checked his missions menu. It currently had the Puma Assault Vehicle and the Locate the Four Lair keys missions checked off. "Hay do you have the lair keys or something?" asked Ratchet.

"Hu? Why?" asked Aqua Girl.

"Because we don't have them and it's marked off on my missions log." Replied Ratchet shifting Jak a bit.

"Yea I got um. I was going to the Leviathan King's lair when I saw all the DZ strikers headed in one direction. I fallowed them and found you." She said. "Look there's my Puma." She pointed to a small land car up ahead on the end of the bone bridge.

They loaded Jak into the passenger side of the front cockpit. Daxter joined him and sat on the dash. Ratchet got into the gunner's seat in the second cockpit. Aqua Girl hopped into the driver seat of the front cockpit.

"Ok Aqua Girl," said Ratchet over the COM link in the vehicle. "Lets go kill that King Leviathan thing and get Jak outa' hear."

"Sounds like a plan, but you can call me Aquill." She said back. Aquill floored the gas pedal and the Puma launched forward. They passed some of the strange scorpion-like creatures, which Ratchet assumed must have been the regular leviathans and shot a few. Finally they were headed up a ramp into a cave mouth. The reached a door and Aquill got out and turned the keys. The door slid open and they moved on into the cave. They didn't go far as the cave opened into a massive chamber filled with the brown goo, and several islands around it. Ratchet hopped out of the Puma along with Aquill and Clank who attached himself to Ratchet's back as usual.

"Daxter, you stay hear and look after Jak." Said Ratchet

"Right-o captain!" said Daxter and saluted, then pulled the cockpit shut. Ratchet checked the ammo bay and reloaded all his guns.

"Ok, let's do this." He said and leaped onto the first island. Aquill was right behind him. As they entered the chamber the goo at the far end of churned and flowed. Ratchet pointed out the spot out to Aquill and got down of one knee to fire his Arbiter. He launched the rocket into the spot and watched as his went under the goo. With a muffled boom and a huge bubble that formed and fell in the goo, he knew he had hit his mark. A roar echoed through the cave and a large tail shot up out of the liquid just in front of Ratchet. The same energy at the end of the leviathan's tail formed on the end of it. "Move!" yelled Ratchet and the jumped in different directions.

The huge beam blasted the island they where on and it went up in flames. Ratchet realized They weren't islands; they were plants, much like lily pads. Meaning the massive creature could move around uninhibited by low depth. The tail went under again. Ratchet looked to Aquill.

"Careful, it could come up anywhere!" he shouted. And as if it had accepted the invitation it reared up next to her head first wailing it's pincers opened wide. Ratchet launched a rocket at it but realized it wouldn't arrive soon enough. Then from out of nowhere came Aquill's boomerang-blade and sliced off its right pincer. The monster roared in frustration and slid back into the brown liquid. Ratchet's rocket hit the wall behind it and it exploded with massive force echoing several times and making Ratchet's ears ring. Then a stalactite hit the goo just off to his left with a sploosh. Ratchet looked at Aquill who smiled back. Now they had a real plan. Ratchet moved to another lily pad to confuse the monster and so did Aquill. Suddenly it appeared right in front of Ratchet, as he was getting ready to leap to the next pad. He fired the Arbiter into the ruff and the explosion caused the stalactites to fall in waves. The sharp rocks impaled the creature over and over again and it roared in pain. Green blood seeped out around the rocks and with a moan it slid back into the goo. From Ratchet's armor computer came the long awaited phrase: Mission Accomplished.


	7. Chapter 7: Only on PayPerView

**Author's Notes: "Well well, it's finally back up." I'll bet your thinking. Yes it has been a while since my last post for this site. I haven't found the time to write anything before now. I'm trying to graduate High School right now and move out simultaneously. So my life has been a bit hectic and writing just hasn't found it's way into my schedule, but you're not hear to listen to me wine and complain about my problems and excuses, your hear for Dreadzone: The Final Cut goodness. So hear we go:**

Chapter 7: 

Only on Pay-per-view!

It had been a good two days since Ratchet had left the surface of Sarthos, his armor covered in muck and Jak's blood. He hadn't been able to repair the helmet's retract function since he had gotten mud caked on the visor. Retracting the helmet had caused the mud to get jammed in the suit, sticking the helmet down and jamming it in place. He hadn't seen Jak in that time either. When they had teleported back onto the transport ship, Jak and Aquill hadn't been with Ratchet, Clank, and Daxter. The furry rodent was genuinely worried about his friend, constantly asking questions that Ratchet had no answer for.

Finally Jak showed up about 2:00 Am DZ time with his arm in a sling and his shoulder expertly wrapped and treated with Nano-tech. Daxter launched himself at the man yelling incoherent things about never doubting him. Jak explained that the Dreadzone physicians had taken care of his arm quickly and easily. "We've seen much worse." they said. Unfortunately he wouldn't be much use in battle for some time. He arm had nearly been blasted off by the powerful rifle. If it hadn't been for Ratchet's quick thinking with the Nano-pack in the field, Jak would likely have one less arm. Jak thanked him and wanted to thank Aquill as well but they had no idea ware she was or how to contact her. So they just sat and waited for their next drop, planning what to do with Jak in the next round.

He couldn't hold a gun, and his movement was fairly limited due to the pain. They ultimately just decided to keep Jak in the background for the time being. Jak wasn't very happy with this decision but didn't have much choice in the matter.

Three days after Jak returned, Clank was able to get the large monitor in the room to work. They were now able to watch the Holo-vid to pass the time. Unfortunately the only channel they could get was the Vox channel. The shows were fairly lame such as: Desperate Blarg Wives, Who Want's to be a Snaglebeast Trainer, Solana Idol and Find the R.Y.N.O. But with nothing better to do, they watched anyway. Then during a commercial break in All my Tyranoids, an advertisement came on for Dreadzone:

"Some call him the Lombax from Hell…" said the dramatic voice as a picture of a wrench flying into a DZ striker's head. Then a DZ striker with a plate on his head came on as if being interviewed. "It was terrible!" he confessed, "He came out of no ware. 884636 and I were just standing on the platform and BAM! He was down. BAM! I was down. It was over! I've never seen so much carnage." The camera fads out. "Some call him the Bucher from Bogon." Another DZ striker came on this one mostly made from repair parts. "There was nothing we could do!" he said. "I was just about to start firing at him and shit started blowing up. I don't know…" he faded out. "But this week you will call him paste." Said the voice and rock music started playing "The Lombax from Hell, the Bucher of Bogon, Ratchet the Annihilator will be going head to head with the mighty Shellshock!" Shellshock comes on the screen. "I vill crush the tiny creature." Said Shellshock with a robo-cigar in his mouth. "He vill never know vhat hit him. Eh he he." Shell shock faded out and an explosion filled the screen. "He broke the rules and now he's going to pay… On Dreadzone! Watch it only on Pay-per-view!"

"What!" said Ratchet after the commercial. "What did I do? I didn't break any rules. Did I?" Ratchet looked to Clank.

Clank cleared his throat. "Chapter 6, section 8, subsection gamma in the Dreadzone Rules of Conduct book states; 'No hero or heroin can interfere, aid, or otherwise come in contact with another hero, heroin or team that is not determined to be their partner under any circumstances during an official Dreadzone mission, unless otherwise instructed to do so under penalty of Extermination.'" Said Clank. "It seems by accepting aid from Aquill has qualified you for Extermination Ratchet."

"But, _she_ helped _me._" Argued Ratchet.

"Yes, but we are not the ones who make the rules Ratchet. You know as well as I do that the people in charge of Dreadzone don't care about what is fair of just, they only want ratings. A one on one death match with Shellshock and the 'Lombax from Hell' would surly bring in a lot of ratings and a lot of bolts. Besides," Clank shrugged "Aquill will likely be punished as well, unfortunately."

Several hours later Ratchet received a message that he was to be ready for battle in two days. His team would not be aiding him in his mission against Shellshock but would be given free admission to the Pay-per-view, live show.

"Nice, said Daxter, "We can't help but we can watch and wish we could." He sat down in a huff. "I hate this stupid place, and if I ever meet the guy in charge of this insanity I'm gona put my foot right up his…"

"Cool it Daxter." Said Jak. "Ratchet can take care of himself."

"Yea, I've been up against worse." Said Ratchet. He wasn't really sure if this was true. For all he knew Shellshock could be stuffed with nuclear missiles, but it seemed to calm Daxter down a bit. Clank didn't seem disturbed by any of this. When Ratchet asked him about it he said: "You have done crazier things without me on your back. I have complete confidence in you Ratchet." That made the Lombax feel better. He knew Clank didn't rely much on "hope" or "wishes". He was all about the cold-hard facts, and if Clank said it could be done, Ratchet believed him.

Ratchet spent the next few days with the Holo-vid, watching Shellshock's old battles. It seemed that he had guns and such but didn't use them as a major part of his arsenal. From watching the Holo-vids it was apparent that Shellshock liked to herd the hero or heroin between him and a wall or a cliff or anything else he could back them up against. Then he would start to smash them with his bare hands. Close combat was his forte it seemed. So Ratchet made a mental note not to get close to him, keep on the move, and don't get stuck between the battle-bot and a hard place.

The transport ship lurched and shuttered as it came into Kronos's atmosphere, the place ware he was to fight Shellshock. He prepped his armor and had Jak and Clank check it out. Daxter was even able to help. With his tiny nimble fingers he was able to remove the bits of dried mud from the collar of the armor's helmet space, allowing him to use his helmet again. He thanked them all for their help and started his mental prepping.

Back in the Tyrinoid Wars this was the hardest time; the calm before the storm. In the drop ships the Lombax sergeant and his Galaxy Ranger troops would sit and think about the importance of their mission and prepare their minds for battle. It was a tense few moments just before a drop, with your comrades at your side, the door of the drop ship hanging open before you and the missiles flying every ware. You knew that soon you would have to leap into that maelstrom of fire and shrapnel and may not even make it to the battle below, but you did, you always jumped and then your fate was in God's hands. Ratchet did this now. Prepared his mind for his battle and the coming challenge.

"Attention Ratchet," said the robotic voice over the intercom. "Prepare for teleportation in t-minus 20 seconds."

"Well guys hear I go." Said Ratchet. "Wish me luck."

"No worries man." Said Jak with a thumbs up that Daxter mimicked. "Yea, no worries"

"Good luck Ratchet, take care to watch your back." Said Clank. Ratchet nodded in reply and felt the tingle of teleportation spread over his body.

Within seconds he rematerialized on a platform. Quickly taking in his surroundings he saw that this place was much like the Gagitron headquarters. The platform sat above water on pillars, and the buildings rose up and out of the water. Everything was, in short, suspended above what appeared to be an endless ocean. It was raining hard and the dark clouds blocked out what little light came to the night side of the planet.. Ratchet flicked the button to activate his helmet. With a small groan as it broke away from the last of the dried mud, it snapped up over his head. He was blinded only for a moment just before the screen clicked on and ran through a self-diagnostic in seconds. Then he switched to the night-vision mode.

"Welcome Ratchet." Said a voice over his COM link. He recognized it as Shellshock's. "This is vare zey have chosen for me to exterminate you, but I decided to spice sings up a bit. I personally don't sink you are vorthy to fight me, so I have set up some tests to see if you are. I've locked myself in the center building; you have to get the keys from my men zat I've placed all over ze zity. Good luck Lombax, I'll be waiting for you." Then the link clicked off.

"Great," said Ratchet sarcastically. He checked his mission menu it said:

□Defeat Shellshock

"Well that's a given." Said Ratchet. Then he noticed that all of his and Jak's weapons were in his quick select. "Good," he said "That will be very helpful." He brought out his trusty Duel Vipers and started walking down the path that the platform made. He made his way to a vacant plasma turret. He stood by it a moment to see if anything would happen but nothing did so he moved on quickly. The path veered left at a 90-degree angle strait towards the center building. On the left of the path was a smaller structure. As he got closer, Ratchet noticed heat signatures in the building on his mini map. He saw that if they attacked it would likely be a more close quarters battle. So he switched to the Magma Cannon.

Then to take them by surprise he ran and rolled sideways, facing the opening that lead into the structure. The beasts were taken by complete surprise and Ratchet blew them away in two shots with no problem. They haven't been DZ Strikers like he had thought they would be. For a moment of horror he thought perhaps locals inhabited this place and he had shot innocent bystanders, but then he realized they had blades on their four arms, kind of like a reverse praying mantis.

His fears released he switched back to the Duel Vipers and started to move into the building, but glanced down the trail he was on and saw movement close to the door of the main complex ware Shellshock was supposedly waiting. He switched to the weapon Jak had acquired during the last mission. He had learned from Clank that is was called the Fusion Rifle. Using the scope and his HUD's zoom quality, he took a closer look.

He saw about 20 DZ strikers and 4 of the larger Executioner robots guarding the door. He sighed. "This Shellshock guy seems scared of me." He said. "Good." He smiled under his Helmet. That might give him an advantage. He put the rifle away. He could have easily shot the DZ strikers and the Executioners, but he didn't have enough ammo to kill them all and he figured he would need it. "I'll deal with them later." He said with a wave of his clawed hand.

He headed into the small structure ware the beasts had been and found it was more like a terrace, to keep out of the rain. The path ran strait through it and out the other side. He shrugged and passed through it. Then something caught his eye. A drop ship was dropping DZ strikers into a round, walled area and then sped off. Ratchet contemplated shooting the ship for a moment, but decided on stealth for now. Firing at the ship would likely invite its wrath upon him and give away his position. He noticed another plasma turret guarding what appeared to be the entrance to the walled area, only this one was manned. He switched to the rifle again and took aim. A loud crack filled the air and reverberated off the large main complex. The Striker never knew what his him. Ratchet passed the turret casually and kicked the Striker's headless body as he walked by.

Then the gray part of the arena wall slid open with a snap and several of the bladed beasts ran out at him in ranking formation. Ratchet started and flipped backwards into the turret. It activated at his touch and he pulled the triggers, hurling plasma balls as the enemy as they approached. They fell before his barrage of plasma like grass to a weed-whacker. Ratchet left the turret and cautiously moved into the walled area. It was apparent now that it was an arena. That suited Ratchet. He had been in arenas more times than he could count. As he entered the arena and passed over the grey gate he noticed a closed gate on the other side of the circle. The one behind him snapped shut. "Shit." Said Ratchet lifting the Magma Cannon into position. DZ Strikers poured out of hidden compartments in the walls and floor. Several trap doors opened around Ratchet. He filled holes around him with molten metal shots form the Cannon and decided this place was as good as any to defend from the on coming attack. With the wall to his back he could see all his opponents at once. He switched to the Duel Vipers and started to unload on the wave of opponents. They scrambled to get out of the way and some even returned fire. Ratchet easily dodged their hastily place projectiles. Soon nothing but robot parts littered the arena.

Then he detected another wave of drop ships inbound on his heat sensor. He took out the Arbiter and got down on one knee. The first one flew over the wall and found a rocket waiting for it. The carbonox-armor-piercing projectile slammed into the cockpit's frail glass and exploded, sending a column of fire out of the front, blasting the front end off in the process. The ship crashed, pilot less, in the ring exploding again as the fuel caught fire. The other ship strafed past him firing rockets in his direction. The rockets weren't near as fast or powerful as the Arbiter's and lazily hit nothing but metal platform as they sailed past Ratchet. He loaded another rocket and fired. The powerful projectile blasted into the side panel of the ship, (that also happened to be on of the exit doors for the robots to get out.) and made a major dent into it. It wasn't enough to take the ship down but the pilot obviously decided it was much safer to be away from the rocked-wielding Lombax and flew off, smoke trailing from its left panel.

The door at the back of the arena opened reviling a stalker turret swiveling around trying to find it's pray. It spotted Ratchet after a moment and the gantlet guns began to spin signaling it was going to fire. Ratchet side stepped the deadly plasma barrage and hid behind the safety of the arena walls. Confident he was out of mortar range; Ratchet took his time reloading the Arbiter and stood for a moment to catch his breath. He could hear the turret swiveling around trying to get an angle on him. Just then he saw a floating device flying around the arena. Ratchet cocked an eyebrow under his helmet and used his HUD's zoom feature to get a closer look. Upon closer inspection he found that it was an armored camera. It had its lens squarely pointed at him, and in the moment Ratchet had seen it, it dipped behind the arena wall.

"Weird," he said "I wonder how long that has been fallowing me, and why I didn't notice it before now." Thinking back, Ratchet realized he had been on camera every time he had been on a mission. He had never noticed before now but the strange movement he was always seeing that made him jump was the cameras. He had thought he was just seeing things and was just jumpy so he never told the others of what he had seen.

He made a note of it and shouldered the Arbiter. He ran out back into the open, strafing the turret and unloaded two rockets into the deadly machine. It exploded beautifully and sent the operators' lifeless shells flying.

Satisfied with his work he headed in the direction of the flaming stump that was the remains of the turret. He stepped over it and made his way onto the slightly raised platform behind him. There, he found a blue key-card. Ratchet picked it up and examined it a moment. It was the same blue as the main complex that stood behind him. He likely would have missed it had his HUD not pointed it out to him since the path was also a similar color. On the card, in white, it said 1 of 2. Ratchet sighed, "Theirs never just one key is there?" he grumbled.

He saw that the platform had a power cable connected to it that ran some ware else. He had ground on power cables before so he knew that his boots were insulated against it. He was about to jump onto the cable when something caught his eye down the line. He squinted to see, then zoomed in. There was a platform next to the cable, floating in midair, (likely from hover pads on the bottom.) and on the platform was a DZ Striker, with a Fusion Rifle. He seemed to be trying to take aim at Ratchet, so he dropped to his belly with a metallic clank as the metal of his armor met that of the platform he was on.

He got his Fusion Rifle out from the quick select and took aim swiftly. He squeezed the trigger slowly, keeping his aim true. The thin column of energy shot strait through the Striker's power core in the center of its chest . (Clank had educated him on the autonomy of the Strikers earlier that day.) The striker clutched its chest for a moment as if it had been shot in the heart (which it technically had been as far as robots are concerned.) Then locked up stiff as board and fell over into the water. He fallowed the rail with his scope and found two more strikers along the way. He quickly send beams of energy through their chests as well, then got to his feet, put the rifle away in favor of his Duel Vipers and leaped on to the rail.

The ride went well until Ratchet herd the sound of teleporting behind him. He looked back and saw two DZ strikers fly past him on either side. They flew in front of him and opened fire. Ratchet leaned and jumped to dodge the fiery bolts but against his best efforts he still took some hits. His armor absorbed most of the damage but he could feel painful burns on his skin just before the Nano-tech healed it. With a yell of frustration he unleashed a furry of his own from the Vipers. His targets were extremely hard to hit due to their ability to move as they pleased, and the rail's constant swerving and dipping beneath him, but eventually they fell from the sky, torn apart from the Vipers' powerful rain of death.

The rail came to an end on another platform. This one was long almost like a landing strip, and lead strait into another arena. Ratchet could see the turret guard from ware he stood. He used the Fusion Rifle to kill it easily, blasting its head clean off with a single shot just like the last one. Then he herd the roar of drop ships around him. He shouldered the Arbiter quickly but it was too late. The ships dropped their load of DZ strikers on the path and flew off at full speed. There were twelve of them and they all charged Ratchet at once. He was just about to pull the trigger of the Arbiter so they might see whatever hell robots went to, when a black ball about the size of a soccer ball flew out from the crowd.

Ratchet started, he recognized it as a grenade-launcher-style projectile. Once it hit the ground it would erupt in a fiery holocaust. If the explosion didn't kill him, the fall off the platform from the blast would. The Lombax looked around for ware to dodge but the platform was just too small to evade such a wide reaching weapon. Acting on impulse, Ratchet pulled his wrench from his belt and swung hard at the ball of tightly packed explosives. He hit it with great force and it arced back to the oncoming slew of robots. They all looked up at the ball that was descending on the quickly, glowing eyes wide. Frozen by their surprise, none was able to come out of their stupor in time to evade the explosion that rocked the very foundation of the platform.

Shrapnel from the remains of the battle-bots and the black ball rained down on Ratchet and bounced off his armor harmlessly. Then something orange caught his eye. He realized it was the source of the explosive soccer ball and reached out his right hand to extend a hyper-shot energy cable to it. Even as he realized nothing would happen, since his hyper-shot had been taken from his when he was captured, the green beam of energy shot out and grabbed the gun just as it began its descent. The gun flew into the surprised hands of Ratchet and knocked him over. He looked at his arm just in time to see the hyper-shot coil retract into the armor.

He examined the new weapon. His HUD began displaying data on it:

B-6 Obliterator:

Ammo Capacity: 6

Damage: 5/10

Firing Rate: 1 per 4 seconds

Weapon Style: Grenade Launcher

Ratchet nodded in satisfaction and added the weapon to his quick select. He walked towards the arena and the grey door slid open just like the last one. Several of the bladed beasts swarmed out and Ratchet tested his new weapon on them. It blew them clean off the platform, or clean apart. He looked around at the arena. He really wasn't looking forward to another episode of "Arena Brawl" with the DZ strikers. He happened to glance down at his gloves and noticed the claws on them. "I wonder…" he said to himself and put his gun away.

He approached the wall of the arena and jammed his fingers into the metal. His fingers slid into the metal easily. Ratchet smiled under his helmet and jammed his other hand into the wall above the first. In this manner he climbed up the wall of the arena and soon stood on the top overlooking the interior. He carefully walked along the narrow wall and soon found his way to the opposite end of the ring. He jumped off onto the platform behind it and startled two very strange looking battle bots.

They were a dark blue, almost grey, they had no legs but rocket like engines ware the legs should be. One single slit of an eye dominated their faces much like the visor on Ratchet's helmet. The Dreadzone symbol decorated the center of their chests.

Ratchet raised the Magma Cannon to blow them away, when one spoke up; "NO! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT I GIVE UP!" he shouted.

The other one wailed at him in a very militaristic voice. "Suck it up Green! This is war! He's the enemy! We can't surrender! That's cowardice!"

"Oh yes we can." Replied the one called Green. "So I'm a coward, so what? I'll be a living coward."

"Like hell you will!" shouted the other. "If you surrender, I'll kill you myself!"

"Hay, hay wow." Said Ratchet lowering his helmet. "What's going on hear? Who are you guys?"

"I'm Merk and this is Green." Said the gruff one slapping Green in the chest with the back of his hand. "We're Dreadzone battle-bots version 4.0."

"We're outdated." Said Green sadly. "We were sent out hear to kill you with the rest of Shellshock's troops, but they just expect us to die against you."

"That's how they dispose of outdated model Strikers," said Merk. "Just have the heroes blow 'um up. It's amazing we survived this long."

"Why? What version are the Strikers now?" asked Ratchet with a shrug.

"30.4" replied Green grudgingly. "So are you gona shoot us now Mr. Lombax or what?"

"Not yet, and it's Ratchet." Replied the Lombax. "How about we make a deal instead?"

"What kind of deal?" said Merk suspiciously.

"You tell me ware the last key to the complex is, and I let you live." Said Ratchet simply

"I like it," said Green quickly "especially the letting us live part."

"No way Green, we'd be traitors. You'd have to torture me first!" said Merk

"Ok." Replied Ratchet. He hefted the Magma Cannon and fired a grazing round at Merk's arm, blowing it clean off. "There, you've been tortured, now tell me ware the key is." Merk looked at the hole in his torso ware his arm would be.

"Just give him the key Merk, I don't wana die, or have my limbs blown off." Begged Green

"What? You two have the key!" said Ratchet

"Yea, we do." Replied Merk. "You can have it too. That was my shotn' arm you blew off so I can't fight ya now. Hear." Merk handed Ratchet a key identical to the one he already had except, in white, it said 2 of 2. "Now get outa hear, before I change my mind." Said Merk threateningly.

"That rail will take you back to the main entrance of the complex." Green pointed to another power cable leading form this platform. "Be careful tough. Shellshock posted a lot of guards out there. Ratchet was just about to jump onto the rail "He's scared of ya you know." Added Green after as an after thought.

Ratchet stopped and turned. "Why?" he said confused.

"Why!" said Green in surprise. "Your Ratchet, THE Ratchet. The Bucher of Bogon! The Lombax from Hell! The Missile Tornado! The Furry Holocaust! The…"

"Ok ok I get it. Why do they call me all that?" said Ratchet.

"Have you seen your battle clips?" Said Merk "It's amazing what you've lived though! They say you're unstoppable. Your merchandise is flying off the shelves."

"Merchandise?" said Ratchet

"Yea, Dreadzone is a holo-vid show, they don't make a lot of profit from just the shows. Most of it comes from the action figures, colas, lunch boxes and other stuff like that. Especially stuff with the Exterminators on it, but word is; your stuff is even out selling their leader, Ace Hardlight's merchandise" replied Green

"Wow," said Ratchet. He never thought about himself as a celebrity. "Well nice talken' with you guys, see ya around." Ratchet jumped onto the rail.

"Yea! Next time we won't go so easy on you fuzzy wad!" yelled Merk

"Oh shut up Merk." Said Green


	8. Chapter 8: The Main Event

**Well well, you might say, it's about time he put up a new chapter. Well It's been hard. I finally graduated high school, moved out of my parent's house and am now living on my own. My work has suffered for it but now I have the Internet again. I will be trying to write more often now. And to the flamer known as Mithlas, if you want to bash something for being bad and weak. How bout you read all of it? not just skim it. Anyway on to... **

**Chapter 8**

**The MAIN EVENT!**

Ratchet thought about his strategy to take out Shell Shock. His best bet was to stay away from the homicidal maniac and blast him with all he had. Not a too fancy of a strategy but hay, it worked lots of times before... The end of the rail came into view, it let out just next to the main door of the Dark cathedral with about 20 strikers and 4 executioner standing guard. He was about to open fire when a crackle came over his head set:

"Ra...cht, c... hear me?" said the fuzzy voice.

"Hu? Say again, I do not copy." he replied. The end was getting close now.

"Ratchet can you hear me?" said Clank over the radio.

"Yea, I can. Clank how did you..."

"their is no time to explain, I can see you and everything around you listen to my instructions."

"Clank I don't have time, the strikers,..."

"are decoys Ratchet," Clank finished for him. "a Hover ship is waiting for you just above the edge of the temple's entrance. Do not engage the enemy hear, it is the signal the ship is waiting for."

Ratchet thought quick. The rail ended just above the strikers. If he went all the way off he would land smack dab in the middle of them. What to do? What to DO! He looked at the claws on the armor and then it hit him. He jumped off the rail only ten feet before it ended. He reached as far out as he could and found his mark. The sharp nails of the armor dug deep into the edge of the platform. Their he hung only 3 feet from an executioner who absently scratched his but and yawed.

"Good work Ratchet!" said Clank "I could not have thought of a better strategy myself."

"OK, now what Clank. I'm kind of in a tight spot hear." he turned off the outer speech speaker so the robots wouldn't hear him.

"Do not go in through the main entrance Ratchet. It is rigged with a trap."

"So how am I suppose to get in their?" said Ratchet irritably.

"The only other way in is a hanger under the temple itself at the center. It is used to deliver and transport supplies in and out of it. The keys you have will open it but you will have to climb under the temple."

"What do I look like Clank?! Spider-bax?!

"It is the only way." replied Clank. "If you open that door the explosion is sure to kill you."

"Ok, ok, I'll see what I can do."

"Exilent." replied Clank. "I'm closing our connection now so that we are not caught."

"Roger, Ratchet out."

He herd the radio click off. Then hand over hand he shuffled left to the temple's underside, slamming his claws into the mettle to hang on. The strikers didn't even flinch at the sound he was making. Eventually he made it to the end of the platform just under the door. their was no way he could climb down the under side the temple. It was curved like a dome. Once he reached the part that was facing down he would fall. He found himself wishing he WAS Spider-bax but such pointless thoughts only distracted him and he refocused. He examined the bottom of the temple and noticed several cords that lead from the edge of the temple to the underside. The one closest to him was a good thirty feet ahead of him and fifty feet down. If he could just get enough momentum...

Ratchet began to swing back and fourth until he felt he was moving a good amount, then let go. he flew under the platform, the wind whispering death in his ears (well the speakers to the outside anyway.) The cable came up fast. He reached out. Reached...reached...His right hand snagged the cable. He could hear the suits mechanics straining to obey his command to hang on. He slid down the cable at alarming speed, and could feel the heat from the friction on his armored glove. He reached the part of the cable that started back up to the temple and hung their with one arm dangling over the water that promised a quick end.

Ratchet swung his legs up and wrapped them onto the cable and grasp it with is left had ass well. Then he began to shimmy up to other end of the cable the lead to the center of the temple whare the entrance would be.

Ratchet smiled under his helmet. "I can hear it now;" he said. "Unbelievable he's under the temple folks! Oh mercy what can't this Lombax do?!" he impersonated the announcer. He reached the opening to the hanger and took out the key cards. They flashed once and the door moaned as it opened. Ratchet swung himself back and fourth again and flipped into the opening landing on his feet in a crouch. He took out the Duel Raptrers and surveyed the area. Several drop ships filled the hanger that was only about one hundred feet but two hundred feet. No enemies where in site. He made his way at a sprint to the exit door and flew down the hallway. He wanted to move now. and fast. No telling how many alarms his secret entrance had set off. He ran as fast as he could down the halls looking into rooms until he saw a sign that said "Main entrance."

"Ten bolts says he waiting form me their. She skid around the corner and found himself looking at a shear droop. He stopped only inches from the edge waving his arms to stay balanced. He caught himself and let out a sight of relief. The opening lead down in to a circular room a ramp lead up to the opening he was in via a gravity boots. Down in the room was Shell shock completely oblivious to the Lombax's presents. Ratchet hefted the Arbiter onto his shoulder and took aim. "This ones for you." he said under his breath and let loose a rocket.

The explosion reverberated off the walls of the cathedral and hurt Ratchet's ears. He herd a monstrous roar from down in the room. Threw the fire and smoke came Shell shock, a twisted sneer on his robotic face and guns in his hands.

Ratchet turned and ran down the hall again. He could hear Shell Shock's huge steps just behind him. The Lombax turned and fired the rocket launcher again. The rocket exploded in the huge bot's chest but still kept coming. Ratchet loosed all the rockets he had at him but to no avail. Shell Shock's armor was badly damaged but he was no worse for ware. "Time to die little furry one." said the battle bot. Ratchet switched to the Duel Rapters and opened fire. The plasma tore into his armor and slowed him down a bit but he kept coming. Finally they ran out of ammo with a click. Ratchet unloaded everything he had at him. The magma cannon, and the Fusion rifle both didn't drop the homicidal kill bot.

Ratchet turned and ran for his life. He out distanced the slower battle bot easily and came out into the hanger again. He dove behind a drop ship to think about his strategy. He had nothing left to shoot. What could he do? Ratchet took out his wrench and examined it. His last resort, the only thing that stood between him and death. It's well polished finish shined in the lights of the hanger. "Well, if I'm going down..." Suddenly Shell Shock's heavy steps could be herd in the hanger. "Come hear little furry one, I'm not going to cause you pain, It'll be over before then!"

Ratchet climbed up the side of the drop ship he was hiding behind and on to it's roof. Shell Shock had his back to him looking under another ship. Ratchet leaped onto the robot's back. Shell Shock reared back in surprise and the Lombax began hacking way at his head. Each hit left a nice dent in the back of his head.

"Argh! Get off me! Rodent!" Shell Shocks huge metalik hand closed over Ratchet's body. Shell Shock tore him off and slammed him into the ground several times. Ratchet saw blood on his hud when the white cleared from his vision but he made out Shell Shocks huge boot coming down on him. He rolled out of the way. He could hear Shell Shocks boot come down again and again trying to crush the Lombax's soft body. Finally he made it out of range and rolled to his feet. Ratchet's head swam and the blood impaired his vision.

Ratchet placed a lock on Shell Shock to keep track of him on his H.U.D. The battle bot turned around and pointed his gun at Ratchet. "Say goodnight Lombax!" Ratchet jumped onto his arm and ran up it to his head and kicked it with all his might. "GOODNIGHT!" he yelled. Shell Shock fell over like a sack of potatoes. Ratchet leaped off of him and landed on his chest as he hit the ground. The wrench dug again and again into Shell Shock's exposed under armor that the rockets had torn away. The bot's hand suddenly filled his vision and and Ratchet was slapped off of Shell Shock. Ratchet hit the cockpit of one of the drop ships and broke through it landing in the pilot's chair. Ratchet shook off the hurt and got up. Shell Shock stomped up to the front of the ship. Grasping it his lifted the ship off the ground and began swinging it. Ratchet watched as the world turned around him and the bot. Shell shock grinned with the robot cigar in his mouth.

"This is my variation on the 360 Tomahawk body slam."

"Really?" said Ratchet against the g's. "This is my variation on the blow you to hell!"

Ratchet grasped the control stick and fired the rockets from the ship. Both rockets blasted into Shell Shock forcing him to release the ship. The ship flew across the hanger. Ratchet jumped out just in time to avoid becoming part of the wall as the ship did with a huge explosion. Ratchet hit the ground hard rolling to a stop on his back. He lay their for a moment wondering if this was what it was like to die.

A scratching of mettle on mettle and dazed moans reached Ratchet's ears. Reluctantly Ratchet go to his feet. Shell Shock had a large hole in the center of his chest. He stumbled a bit and looked at Ratchet. Ratchet took out his wrench with a swing and charged foreword. Shell Shock slammed the ground missing Ratchet who slid under his legs. Hitting both the backs of his knees on his way past. Shell Shock fell the the ground, his leg servos blown out. Ratchet skidded to a stop and leaped back onto Shell Shock's back, pounding his head with his wrench again and again. Mettle chips flew every ware as the armor was torn away. With every blow the bot fell closer to the ground until nothing was left of his head but a crumpled mass of carbonox steel. Ratchet leaped off the bot. and turned to face him. Shell Shocks face was unrecognizable now. One eye seemed to still be operating.

"Ratcheeeeeeet." he stammered reaching for him

"This iiiiiiis not ovvvvver Lombaaaaaaaax."

"No, I think your about done." said Ratchet lowering his helmet.

"No, this is ooooooooonly the beggggggggining. The ooooooooother exterminnnnnnaters will avvvvvvveng me." the light in his eye began to fade.

"You will not mmmmmmmake it out of Dreadzooooooooone alive."

Ratchet walked up to Shell Shocks crumpled face. "That's what you think pal. I'll fight you a hundred times if that's what it takes. You guyes don' know who your messing with."

Shell Shock made a disturbing stuttering laugh.

"Dooooo not under estimate usssssssss Ratchetttttttttt. Ace will take cccccccccare of you like allllllllll the otherssssss.

"Ah hu." said Ratchet uninterested. "What ever you say." Ratchet reared his arm with the wrench back. "Sweet dreams."


	9. Chapter 9: Welcome Home Party

Author's notes: Yea, so not much to write this time. Just want to say I have no idea what my update schedule will look like now. I have moved to basically when I feel like it. So yea, if anyone still reads this you will be delighted to read:

Chapter 9 

**Welcome Home Party**

Ratchet returned to the drop ship with many exited congratulations from his friends. If they had some champion they would have sprayed it all over the ship.

They were informed over the intercom that they were now returning to the Dreadstation and would arrive in 3 days. Ratchet sighed in relief.

As they approached the station a small vid screen appeared in front of ratchet. Showing Gleman Vox's ugly face. Ratchet yelped and fell off the couch.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the renegade gladiator, what was your name…" Vox put a finger to his chin in thought

"Ratchet." Replied the lombax pulling himself up and regaining his composure.

"Right whatever," said Vox waving it off as if it was a trivial piece of info. "I just wanted to let you know you will be walking the red today as you return, so look sharp ok?"

"Walking the red? What are you talking about?" said Ratchet

Vox sighed, "Instead of dumping you in your quarters like all the others you will be walking on a red carpet in front of the fans as you enter the complex. This is a great honor, not many gladiators get to walk the red before they bye the farm." Ratchet herd Jak snort in discuss

"A great honor hu?" said Ratchet defiantly "We'll I won't do it"

"Say what?" said Vox genuinely surprised

"I'm not your puppet Vox! I'm not just gona come out and dance when you want me too!"

"Oh really?" said Vox venomously. He held up a small controller with two buttons on it and pressed one. All at once Ratchet's body contorted in pain and was forced the ground. The deadlock collar on his neck surged and crackled with energy. Every fiber in Ratchet's body screamed in agony and Ratchet could feel his voice echoing their pain. As suddenly as it had begun it ended and Ratchet lay on the ground choking and heaving for air that had been denied during the shock. Clank and Daxter were next to him and Jak was above him. They all had looks of dread on their faces.

"Let's get one thing strait buster," Ratchet herd Vox say. "I own you! You are mine to command whenever I so please. If I say jump you say: how high? If is say fight you say: for how long? If I say I want an Aquatos flabjark drink you say…" a long pause

"YOU SAY…" energy raged in Ratchet again causing his back to arch for a moment then ended quickly.

"Shaken or stirred?" replied the Lombax breathlessly

"Good boy. Now was that so hard?" Vox smiled a toothy smile. "Now then your walking the red when you get hear, so try to look nice, and I want your helmet on, you look more menacing with it."

When…I get out…of hear Vox….your toast." Breathed Ratchet.

"Well, we'll see 'toast' by the end of the season." Replied Vox and the vid window closed.

Jak helped Ratchet get up. "You alright?" he asked

"Yea fine, just a bit crispy, nothing to worry about." He replied

"Vox seems to be a most unpleasant fellow with a very short temper, I may be best not to upset him for now." Said Clank

"Aw, he's just a big bully" said Daxter with a wave. "Let's take away his toy and see now tough he really is."

"I agree with Daxter." Said Jak darkly. "Unless we get these things off we are completely at that mad-man's mercy."

'Walking the Red' wasn't all that bad. They played some menacing music as Ratchet stepped from the ship accompanied by bright lights, lots of effect smoke and several grizzly titles that Ratchet ignored. He walked down a long suspended outside platform colored red in the center with people on either side. He could see most of the space station from hear since it was in the middle. The people cheered. Oh did they cheer. They screamed and hollered his and his teams' name. Girls flashed him, men hooted and all of them looked like a mob of raving idiots. Ratchet had his helmet on as Vox had instructed but underneath was a look of utter disgust. These…people actually were entertained but the violence a gore this show broadcasted, and because he had come out on top he was their favorite. Ratchet waved for effect and quickly made his way down the carpet. Escape was out of the question every ware he looked he could see snipers up on the raised platforms over the walkway and large robotic bruisers kept the public back, but could turn on him anytime. So we bowed a waved like a good little puppet and entered the complex ware no less than twenty executioner class robots waited for him. Ratchet assumed they were going to escort him back to his quarters but instead they led him to a stage with a podium in the middle. The house was full of press. He then proceeded to answer their mindless questions and was surprised to find his voice augmented by the mask he wore. He sounded dark and sinister. After that he was led back to this quarters. Ware he found his comrades watching him enter the room on the holo vid.

"And that ladies and gentlemen was Ratchet, leader of Team Darkstar and possible champion of Dreadzone. Later we will be showing…" Clank shut off the holo vid.

Ratchet retracted the helmet into the armor and sighed. "Man these people are nuts!" he said. "They show now remorse for what is going on hear. They scream and yell like I'm some celebrity like I'm some kind of…of.."

"Hero?" finished Jak

"Yea!" replied Ratchet

"Isn't that kind of the point?" said Jak.

"Hu?" said Ratchet.

"That why this show is so successful," said Jak. "It's like the biggest celebrity reality holo vid show ever created, its got violence, emotion, action, adventure…" Jak counted them off on his hands.

"Yea," said Daxter "The only thing they're missing is sex."

"Yea," laughed Ratchet "Not even Vox could work that into…" Ratchet was interrupted by the ding of the intercom.

"Will Ratchet please report to his local teleported for immediate transportation? That is all"

Ratchet sighed deeply. "This is all moving to fast," he said rubbing his eyes. "I've only been back for 20 min and they have me working as hard as if I was in battle."

"Don't sweat it" said Jak slapping him on the back with his good arm. "They probably just want to have a one on one interview with you or something."

Ratchet hunched over to the teleported. "I'd rather be back at Catacrom 4"

Ratchet suddenly appeared in a room much like the one he had left except there was a couch in front of the holo vid and only one bed. "Uh…" Ratchet scratched his head in confusion

He suddenly realized his armor was gone and he was in a blue bathrobe. Out of suspicion he cheeked and sure enough he had nothing under the robe. "Uh oh.."

He said under his breath.

"That's right uh oh!" yelled a familure voice. Aquill came out of one of the rooms with nothing but furry blue underwear on and a look that could chill the devil's blood. Ratchet's cheeks went red under his fur and he looked away embarrassed.

"So you think just cuz you beat up some two bit exterminator that you can have your way with anyone hu? Well, let me tell you…" she had her finger in his face now.

"Wait wait time out what are you…" he began but she would have none of it

"If I had my slash bow I would make sure you could never EVER…" Ratchet put his hand over her mouth,

"Hold on a sec!" he said. "What in the galaxy are you talking about?" Ratchet removed his hand.

Aquill looked confused "You, they," she began a bit more timid. "They said you wanted to 'celebrate' your victory with me and then they forced me to put on this, this… garment!"

"I never said anything like… Oh god…" said Ratchet his head falling into his hands. "Daxter you stupid jinxing bartered."

"Wa?" she said

"Never mind," he said "The point is I'm not putting on THIS kind of show for them." Ratchet turned and shook his fist at nothing. "You hear that Vox! I don't care what you do to me I'm not doing…" the whole complex shook and tossed Ratchet and Aquill to the ground. "What was that?!"

Ratchet and Aquill ran to the window and saw a wonderful sight. The Phoenix and about 10 other massive ships where fireing on the station.

"YES!" Ratchet jumped into the air "We're saved Aquill that's my ship and about half the galactic armada! Now you'll pay Vox. Now we'll see who's at whose mercy."

**­­­­­­­­­­­­­­No this is not the end, more to come, a lot more. And if you think Vox and the Dreadstation are going to sit for this you will be pleasantly surprised.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Cavalry

**Chapter 10 **

**The Cavalry**

Sasha sat in the captain's chair of the starship phoenix, her fingers bridged and a look of dark thought on her face. Ratchet, the man she loved was in the massive space station before her on the vid screen currently being bombarded my plasma fire. She had received the emergency distress signal from clank almost a month ago. It had taken a lot of calling in favors, string pulling and paper work but she had mustered up an armada to take him back. No one could hide her Ratchet from her, not in this galaxy not even in the Dark Zone.

The initial bombardment continued. The station's shields were powerful and she could see lights going out around it as the power was diverted to them. Then came the fighters.

"Ma'am," said one of the Galactic rangers on a computer console. "I have a large group of small contacts coming from the station. Likely fighters."

"How many." she said.

"About one hundred and thirty ma'am." it replied.

Sasha nodded. and pushed a button on her chair arm. A view of a lombax came on screen. Not Ratchet but his old friend from the Bogon Galaxy, Angela Cross. She had heard Ratchet had gone missing and was on the next flight out to find him. Sasha had contacted her for help, and the two had done the work required to move the armada into combat.

"Angela Cross here," she said. "What's the word Captain?"

"I have contacts off the starboard side of the armada. Take the fleet and engage." Sasha replied

"Affirmative Captain." Angela said. Then to the rest of the fleet; "Ok, you hard asses, we have enemy inbound, weapons hot. Engage and fire at will!"

Sasha watched as the allied fighters screamed off from her screen.

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Angela was not a particularly good pilot, but she had learned a bit from what Ratchet had taught her during his short time in the Bogon Galaxy. Ratchet was a good friend. She had wanted him to be more, but Ratchet had never shown any true interest in her, and then he left for home all of a sudden in a major hurry. She had talked to him later and learned the Solana Galaxy was in the middle of a war with a mad robot called Dr. Nefarious. She had also learned of Sasha. She had been jealous of the Cazar originally but realized it was a foolish feeling. She should be happy for her friend, and so she put her feeling for him aside and moved on. So why did she have this pit in her stomach still when ever she thought about him?

"Multiple contacts!" crackled her radio. "God, there are so many!" said another.

"Stay focused" said Angela. "Split off into combat squads now!"

The massive group of ships split off into teams of 4-6. In all, the armada had 300 fighter ships, 3 destroyers, 2 carriers, and the Phoenix star cruser as the comrade station/Flag ship. The world suddenly became a whorl of colored lines. Reds, blues, greens, and everything in between. Angela panicked for a moment then remembered Ratchet's calming voice as he said;

"Only look for the ones coming for you, don't pay attention to the others, only the ones coming at you matter."

Angela spun the ship into a roll, dodging 4 sets of lasers headed for her. Two enemy ships flew past above her cockpit so close she could have reached out and touched them if not for the glass.

"Stay focused," she told herself. "Stay focused."

Her squad had been broken up by the fighters and was regrouping on her in a V formation.

"Find a target and stick with it." said Ratchet's voice in her head.

"Everyone find your marks!" she said.

Green lights on her H.U.D. indicated they complied.

"Ok BREAK!" she yelled. The ships veered off in all directions after their designated targets, Angela had a particular red ship in her sites. Guns blazing she chased after him. He veered and rolled and tried every trick in the book to avoid her but she obtained missile lock and fired. The explosion was silent in space, but once she got close enough she could hear the vibration on the glass of the cockpit.

"Nice shot Purple leader." said one of her underlings. "Thanks." she said.

"ON YOUR 6 PURPLE LEADER, ON YOUR 6!" said another voice.

Angela's sensors went crazy, warning her she was being targeted by a missile. She rolled and moved her ship in an attempt to break from her attacker but he stayed on her. Angela began to sweet as the computer called out; "Missile lock, missile lock..." Suddenly an explosion shook her ship but it did not explode. She glanced back to see her attacker in pieces. An orange ship came up on her right wing, the other pilot gave her a thumbs up and veered off.

Heart racing Angel regrouped with her team. All confirmed kills. Angela brought the squad around to face the battle again and saw the enemy fighter's were on the run back to the station.

"Yeah! We won! Run you lily livered cowards!" said a voice over the radio.

"Feel the pain of the Solana star ship squad!" said another.

Sasha's clear voice came over the radio. "All units maintain radio silence. Stand by for further instructions."

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"Captain! I'm getting a weird energy signal from the station." said one of the Galaxy rangers.

"Put it on screen." she replied.

On the main vid screen came the line chart of energy readings from various sources. The lasers, generators and even the radios registered on it. The spikes varied greatly up and down up and down but always the line was moving up indicating a continuous rise in energy in the immediate area.

"Could it be from us? Or are the station's shields overloading?" she asked. The bombardment hand never stopped and the station's shield had held so far.

"Negative Captain. The readings indicate a large build up of power unrelated to us or the shields. I have filters on line for such interference."

"Then it must be a defensive weapon, and by the looks of it a big one." said Sasha slightly alarmed. "Corporal," she indicated the Ranger. "Establish a pattern sweep for the energy signal, track down the weapon so we can take it out before if can fire."

"Affirmative captain." said the Ranger and returned to his work typing furiously.

Sasha got up from her chair and leaned on the rail separating the captain's platform from the information deck. She instructed the computer to switch to main visual camera. The fight was going well in their favor. They out numbered the fighters by almost 3 to 1. So it was no surprise when the enemy fighters began to retreat.

"Yeah! We won! Run you lily livered cowards!" said a voice over the radio.

"Feel the pain of the Solana star ship squad!" said another.

"Captain! I can't get a clear reading with the radio's interference." said the Ranger

"All units maintain radio silence. Stand by for further instructions." she said to the fighters.

They moved back to the main portion of the armada, and held in stand by formations around their ships keeping in constant motion.

"Captain I have a lock! The cannon will fire in...Oh no."

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Angela led her squad around the Phoenix in a stand by defensive position. She tried to watch the station as best she could for the return of the fighters. She was sure they would come back in a second wave. The first wave had come and gone to fast, to easy. Then she watched as a strange thing happen. The bombardment on the shield had stopped only moments before, but suddenly the simmering that obscured the true shape of the station fell, indicating the shield had been shut down. By overloading? Unlikely, the shield would be recharging if it was not being fired upon. Which meant it had been lowered by the enemy, and that could only mean one thing..."All ships scatter! Break formation! MOVE MOVE MOVE!" She screamed into the radio despite the silence they were supposed to keep.

Just as she finished a huge bolt of blue energy fired from the station headed strait for the Phoenix. The flag ship was an exceptional ship in all respects for its size and class, but not even it could doge such a sudden burst of energy. The bolt connected and blew a hole strait through the ship. Most of the fighters around the Phoenix had been vaporized by the initial blast. Angel had just made it out. He engines had over-heated from the sudden exertion and as they cooled she was floating dead in space. The concussion from the impact had nearly knocked her out and she was sure her nose was bleeding. She toutched it and pulled her hand way. Blood covored her fingers.

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"Damage report!" said Sasha from her position on the floor. She had been thrown to the deck by the impact. He head hurt and blood was flowing into her eyes making hit hard to see.

"Ma'am! Extensive damage to all decks! We lost all power to anything behind section Charlie and we are venting atmosphere at an alarming rate."

"Seal of anything past and behind section Charlie, stop that atmosphere from leaking."

"Yes ma'am"

"Can we move? What is the engine status?"

"Minimal Ma'am, engines operating at 84."

"Weapons"

"Extensive ma'am, we lost the defense turrets all along section Charlie, all power lost to deffensive batteries Alpha through gamma, main guns online and ready to fire, but will require a lot of power we don't have." said another Ranger.

"Crew report, who is behind the damaged area?" she asked.

"We have 103 crew behind the damaged section captain, all Robotic. We lost 127 in ship from the blast. 94 robotic 33 organic, and 45 fighter ships, all organic."

"Lock down any section past Charlie, divert all power to shields with any units in them. Life support system with sections containing organic life forms only. We don't want to waste the oxygen."

"Negative captain, the shields are fried. I can't get them back online and repair systems are not responding."

"Acknowledged. Helm's men lets move to the back of the armada formation, instructed all fighters to fall back and begin the second wave of..."

"Captain! Energy spike! Faster this time! Incoming in T minus 50...49..."

"Can we survive another hit?" she asked.

"47...46..."

"Negative Captain, another hit will destroy the ship. Shall I devert all power to the forward shields?"

"43...42..."

"Do it and be quick about it."

"40...39..."

Sasha's head was spinning. More blood ran into her eyes and she felt like she might faint. But she would not let that happen. She was the captain, and the captain would not let it end this way.

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Angela could see the massive cannon now, it was poised in the center of the station, and was powering up again to fire. Her engines finally came back on line. And she gunned it twords the cannon.

"All fighters fire on the cannon! Purple and Red Squads on me! Orange and Yellow squads come in from approach type Uniform, Blue and White move in on..."

"Negative Purple leader." said a clear voice over the Radio

"Who is this!" she yelled. "I'm fight leader and I say..."

"This is Admiral Contavian, we have lost contact with the Phoenix, I'm assuming control of this mission. All units pull back, we're bugging out. I repeat all units pull back."

All the fighters fell back to the armada formation as they began to turn away from the station.

"No you can't do that! We have to save Ratchet and all those other heroes!" she shouted into the radio

"I can and I have" came back the voice calm as ever. "4 Solana ships and the lives of over one thousand people is not worth the lives of 30 or so others."

"But! We can't just..." she came back

"You have been given an order! Either fall back or be blasted to bits, and if you undermine me again I will have you deported back to Bogon so fast your ears will fly off!" he sounded irritated now.

Angela would have to obey. She could not help Ratchet if she was deported back to Bogon.

"Just wait a bid longer." she said to him. "Just a bit longer." a tear ran down her face as the cannon fired again and hit the Phoenix in the rear. It blasted strait through again and several blue explosions engulfed the ship in a fiery holocaust. The blast had hit the engins and the fussion genorators that powered them whent into full meltdown, causing even more damage. mixed in with the unheard sound of the calamity was the equally unheard scream of a lombax who had been watching the battle from a window.


	11. Chapter 11: Aftermath

**Chapter 11**

**Aftermath**

His throat raw from screaming Ratchet kneeled with head against the glass of Aquil's window the overlooked the destruction of the ship known as the phoenix. Tears ran down his furry cheeks and several sobs wracked his body. The poor Aquarian had no idea what to do to comfort him, so she just stood and averted her eyes from his grief.

The suddenly he stopped and got to his feet with purpose. He whisked his hand over his face to remove the moisture and began to move to the teleporter.

"Ratchet?" said Aquil.

He stopped but did not turn.

"Ratchet, I...I'm so sorry." she said no knowing what else to say.

He stood for a moment then said in a broken voice. "No, Vox is the one who will be sorry. Sorry he ever even heard the name Ratchet." he turned to look at her then. Murderous fire in his eyes that scared the battle hardened Aquarian. "I'm going to kill him Aquil, I'm going to make him suffer. Suffer more than he has ever made any hero suffer in his sadistic show. I've fought the blarg on their own home world, I've faced monsters who only wanted to feed, and served in the army against a ruthless race of warmongers, but never have I seen such heartlessness, such, evil." then her turned and approached the teleporter again. "I'm going to leave now." he said without looking at her again, which she was thankful for, and amazingly the teleporter cooperated and took him back to his quarters leaving Aquil frightened and confused.

He expected the whole room to rush him at once when he returned, but he came into a room filled with silence. The window showed the Phoenix just like Aquil's. Clank seemed completely lost as if someone had removed his gyro. Jak wore a look of terrible controlled anger, and Daxter's jaw was on the floor.

"R-ratchet, I...I do not..." started clank. Ratchet held up his hand. "I know Clank." he said softly. "I know."

"Clank told us the significance of what happened Ratchet." said Jak. Ratchet thought me might continue but he didn't. There was nothing more to say. Suddenly Daxter came to life.

"HOLY ECO!" he yelled. "THAT WAS THE BIGGEST EXPLOSION I'VE EVER SEEN!"

Jak was on Ratchet in an instant as he howled for the rodent's blood. Even with his injured arm he was able to subdue the angry Lombax.

"What?" said Daxter obliviously. "What did..." he caught the look on Clank's angry face. "Oh, jeez. I uh...sorry." he said.

After Ratchet calmed down Jak let him go and dusted himself off.

"So now what do we do?" he said. Ratchet got to his feet.

"We find our own way out. We make them pay, and most of all we kill Vox. If we accomplish nothing else while we are hear that is what I want. To kill see that worm on the receiving end of an explosive." replied Ratchet.

"Ok but how?" said Jak.

Ratchet looked away. "I don't know."

The whole station seemed to go quiet for the next few days. Not that is was normally noisy but the mood had changed. Hope turned to despair and the entire facility was rank with it. Ratchet didn't know what to do with himself. He moped around the quarters most of the day, and hardly slept at night. Finally when Jak threatened to knock him out if he didn't get some normal sleep he forced himself into an uneasy slumber filled with huge bolts of blue energy, exploding ships and dieing loved ones. Then the day came when the intercom clicked on.

"Attention all Dreadzone contestants." said the voice of Vox. Ratchet's fur stood on end. "You will have undoubtedly noticed the attack on the Dreadstation some days ago. Know this: We are searching for the culprit of informing the Solona Space navy of our location. When we find this individual they will be sentenced to immediate execution. Until then all participants will be engaging in arena combat. That is all." and it clicked off.

"Arena combat? Not that again." said Jak with a sigh. "At least on the planets we can hide, but that arena is a death trap."

"Isn't that kind of the idea?" said Ratchet. Jak shrugged.

"Indeed it is, which is why we must be at the apex of caution while participating." said Clank

"It's not like its hard!" said Daxter. "We just got to blow them away before they have the chance to get us."

"Yea except your never the one pulling the trigger and dodging the plasma out there." said Jak

"Meh, looks easy enough." said Daxter with a wave. "I mean you can do it right?"

"Ha, ha, very funny Daxter." said Jak slightly agitated, "Maybe next time I'll let you get hit by the sniper rifle.

Their bickering continued until the intercom clicked on again and out flowed the nasally voice of Al. "Uh...hello? Is this thing on?" several blows of air followed. "Ah yes, there we go. Uh, will team Darkstar please report to the teleporter please? That's team Darkstar to the teleporter." it clicked off then immediately back on. "Uh...that is all."

So Ratchet, Clank, Jak and Daxter headed over to the teleporter and found themselves in Al's lab. Al himself was crouched behind the counter between them holding up the dart gun he had used on Jak when they had first met.

"Is he safe now? Is he gonna loose it again?" said Al from behind the counter.

"No Al, he's fine. Now put that away." said Ratchet.

"Yea or then he WILL wig out and tear your arm off!" said Daxter and snarled for effect. Jak silenced him with a glare.

Al came out from behind the counter ignoring Daxter's comment. "Ahh...Clank! How good to see you! I missed you on the last visit."

"Yes, I am pleased to see you are well also Al. How has your stay at the Dreadstation been?"

"Ok I suppose, considering the alternative of being shot at." he said while pushing his glasses up.

"Indeed." replied Clank. "I'm sure you are aware the armada attempted to rescue us several days ago correct?"

"Yes, I heard." said Al slightly offended the little robot did not immediately acknowledge the fact that he of course knew. "Who sent the signal?"

"Wait." said Jak Clank could answer, and pointed to a pen and paper. Al handed them to him

"We don't know." said Jak as he wrote:

Is it safe to talk about this?

"Yes we should be fine." said Al. "The security personnel are on break right now."

"Wait you know when the security goes on break?" asked Ratchet.

"Oh sure. George goes on break every four hours on the dot." said Al with a wave.

"How do you know?" said Jak suspiciously

"I visit him every day and chat with him about the various happenings of the heroes. Did you know that Captain Nova wares Proto Pet pajamas!" said Al and began to laugh in his nasally way.

"Are you telling me you have access to the Security room?!" said Ratchet.

"Well...Not exactly. I meet George in the break room one day and he invited me up to the security room to see some of the goings on. Since then he calls me up and we hang out and discuss holo games, comics, and..." Ratchet cut him off

"Do you think you could get the schematics for the deadlock collars?"

"Well, I don't know. George is nice but I don't think he would do that." said Al sheepishly

"Try," said Ratchet. "We have nothing more to lose now."

"Sure, I'll try." said Al clearly not sure of himself. "So who how _did _send the signal?"

"That was me." said Clank. "I sent is on the way to Sorathos."

Al's eyes went wide. "On the transport ship! How did you do that?"

"Well first..." and they were off on their technical mumbo jumbo that always made Ratchet's head hurt. So he, Jak and Daxter began to look around the Lab. It was full of all sorts of tools and gadgets. Some of them Ratchet recognized from past Gagetron catalogs. When he reached the Armor pods he noticed a new set of armor in them.

"Say Al" he said. Al rolled his eyes, annoyed at the interruption. "What?" he said

"What is this?" replied Ratchet.

"Ahh! That is why I called you here!" Al walked over to the pod and pulled a holo screen out of the side that displayed an image of the armor.

"This is the newest Dreadzone armor I call it the Avenger Armor." He pulled up several statistics on the armor.

"It has gel layers strategically placed to displace more heat and shock than the older model. The Metal is a Carbonox titanium alloy that is thinner but just as strong as the old version making it lighter and much easier to move in. The mechanical hydraulics are stronger and a bit faster. It is basically an all round better armor." Al said proudly. "And I made it."

"Wow Al. That's impressive." said Ratchet. "So do we get to use it or are you just showing it off?"

"You get to use it of course." he said in his superior way. "I made it for Vox and his Executioners after I finished the Plasma grenade."

"You what!" said Ratchet and Jak together.

Al hesitated then said. "I had no choice!"

"I thought I told you to stall!" said Ratchet.

"I did but I couldn't any more. Then they put me on this project. I didn't want to do it but then I was told if I finished the armor you could use it too."

Ratchet stood for a moment. Then shook Al's hand. "Thanks Al. I don't know what we would do without you."

"Probably live a bit longer" said Daxter under his breath but was shushed by Jak.

Al opened up the pods and let Ratchet try on the armor. It fit like a glove and was even more comfortable than the older one.

"I have one for you too Jak." said Al moving over to the taller armor pod and pating it like a pet. "But you will have to wait for your arm to fully heal before you put it on."

"No problem. I should be good to go in a few more days." he said.

"Excellent. Now then, since we have all the business out of the way would you like to stay for dinner?" said Al clasping his hands together.

"Dinner? Since when do you cook?" said Ratchet.

"Me? Cook! Never!" said Al disgusted. "Why the last time I cooked I couldn't taste anything for a week! In fact," he said. "I don't even remember much from that week." He paused with his brow wrinkled until Daxter cleared his throat in irritation.

"Oh! Yea, anyway no, Merk and Green will be cooking."

"Who?" said Clank

"Merk and Green." said Al and as if on cue from the kitchen separated from the lab by a false wall came the harsh voice of Merk.

"No you idiot that's too much pepper, you want to melt his face off?!"

"It is not! This will give it flavor." replied Green

"Yea, until you burn his tongue off! Give me that shaker!"

A scuffle ensued that ended with a loud crash and some cursing on behalf of Merk.

"How?..." began Ratchet remembering the strange robots from Kronos.

"I found them in one of the disposal decks while I was looking from my glasses I dropped in the trash shoot. I smuggled them up hear and they have been my assistants ever since."

From the kitchen came another crash. "That is not milk you goof! That's mayonnaise."

"Great" said Daxter rolling his eyes. "Today we'll be serving the mad concoction of two trashed battle bots. Would you like to go the hospital before or after you eat?" he said imitating a waiter.

"Well their better than me at any rate." said Al with a Shrug.

So they staid to eat, and it turned out to be rather good. But wile everyone else seemed to be in high spirits, Ratchet couldn't help but feel gloomy. All he could see was the blue eyes of Sasha, and the blood of Vox that would soon be on his hands.


	12. Chapter 12: Damage Report

**Chapter 12**

**Damage Report**

Ratchet was fighting. His guns blazing as waves and waves of enemies came down on him. Clank was badly damaged next to him, the left side of his chest blown apart, his small robotic eyes closed. The robots called DZ strikers were falling as he blasted them with the terrible onslaught of plasma bolts, but still they just kept coming, and they weren't falling fast enough. They closed in slowly, falling as they were shot only to have another take its place. Closer they crept, 10 feet, 7 feet. Ratchet reloaded his guns. 5 feet, 3 feet. The lombax threw his guns down and started swinging with his wrench. Robot parts started to fly everywhere, but still they kept coming. A variable mountain of parts surrounded the lombax as he added to his with skillful slashes, but is just wasn't enough. One of the battlebots came up behind him and smashed his fist into the back of the lombax's head. Ratchet went down, and the killers surrounded him, pummeling him. Again and again their fists came down, to be raised with blood on their robotic knuckles.

"Captain! Captain!"

Sasha awoke with a start, her heart racing from the grizzly scene she had dreamed.

"Captain!" said the metallic voice of a Galactic ranger from the other side of the door to her small quarters. "We have a status report ready for you."

"R-right, I'll be right their." she said trying to keep her voice level.

"Is, everything alright captain?" obviously she had failed.

"Yes, everything is fine. I'll be out shortly."

"Yes ma'am." it said and went off.

Sasha sat for a moment on her cot, letting her breathing slow and her adrenalin levels fall. They had been adrift in space for almost a week. They had barely escaped the explosion from the Phoenix with seconds to spare. The cold start and power up of the engines to the escape shuttle had been overloaded by the effort and the E.M.P. from the explosion had fried all their electrical equipment except for the emergency systems.

Sasha remembered it all too clearly. The pilot arguing that the shuttle would be destroyed if they didn't give it a few seconds to power up before they punched it. Sasha threw him out of his seat and taken off herself with the control deck crew on the ship. The thrust combined with the force of the explosion had sent them careening out of control, spinning violently off into some odd direction of space. If not for the robotic Galactic Rangers they would have all died. Since they were inorganic and unaffected by the g-forces exerted on them from the spin they had been able to get the ship under control. Sasha had passed out and woke up hours later to find that the only systems that operated were the oxygen systems and the emergency lights. Under her command the ship had been repaired as best they could for the moment. The lights had been brought back online and the diagnostic computer booted up in safe mode. It saved energy, but made it almost useless. Not even the artificial gravity worked.

Sasha unbuckled the belt she had used to keep her in her bed while sleeping and stretched. She was sure she must smell horrible, she hadn't been able to shower in the week they had been set adrift. She could not smell herself, and neither could the robots so she supposed it didn't matter, but she felt so dirty, and useless. Her plan to rescue the man she loved had failed due to her sub par leadership and now an entire crew had paid for it. Perhaps Admiral Contavian had been right to oppose the assault.

"To attack an enemy we know nothing about is reckless and foolish" he had said at the meeting. "I propose we send in reconnaissance droids to survey the station and report back to us on its strengths and weaknesses. Then we can plan a proper attack at the most opportune time."

Sasha argued that the droids would take at least 2 months to travel to the place called Dreadstation, get the needed data and report back. Then even more time to plan the attack based on the data. By then Ratchet would be dead. She had gotten her way because she was the President's daughter. Now looking back perhaps Admiral Contavian had been right. They had needed some kind of intelligence on this place.

She floated over to her door and pushed the red "unlock" button. It slid open and she pushed herself into the hallway. There were 7 other rooms just like hers on the shuttle, but none were occupied. The robots didn't need sleep, just a recharge every few days, and she had been the only organic life form to make it off the ship. Sasha gently pushed herself to the small command deck of the escape shuttle.

"Captain on deck!" said the Sergeant, and snapped to attention the best he could in low gravity. The other rangers straitened in their seats, since they couldn't stand in low gravity.

"At ease." she said taking her seat in the captain's chair. The control room was almost like a miniature version of the one on the Phoenix. Her chair was on a raised platform about half a foot up. The main screen in front over her on a dash board. 3 seats surrounded her with small primitive display screens. None were online thy way they should be. One displayed a "Waiting for Input" screen with a flashing curser. This was the communication screen. The other two were put to work as the diagnostic computer's output and the other was being used for an extremely old game called pong. The game ended as she sat.

"Status report rangers. Corp. 234. What is our communication status?"

"Nonexistent ma'am. System is still down." he replied.

"We need it online, ASAP Corporal."

"Yes ma'am" he said with a sigh. He had been trying all week to get it functional and had not been able to determine the problem as of yet.

"Private 756, what is our thruster status?"

"Minimal Ma'am. We have enough power to keep us from spinning off in some weird way, but that's it. Our main thrusters are trashed. There is no way to repair them with out replacement parts. They main drive tunnel is completely melted shut."

Sasha sighed. "Very well, shut down the main drive generator. We won't need it for now, but keep it hot incase we need the power for defense." speaking of defense. "Corp. 234 what is our battle status?"

"We have the main fusion lasers online, but their useless unless the enemy wants to fly right in front of us. We can't move to line up a target with the thrusters out. Rockets are ready to fire on command, but once again, we would be hard-pressed to actually lock on and hit anything." he said.

Sasha nodded sadly. "Sgt. 122 how is the life support?"

"Set on the lowest setting like you requested ma'am." he said with some concern. The lack of oxygen made the captain very tired and made the decisions she made slow in coming, though they were good and accurate, but it save energy for repairs and other vital functions.

"Good, make sure it stays that way." she said. "Computer." she said referring to the diagnostic computer.

"Aye captain?" it said with a pirate accent. A joke made by Al forever ago when he had debugged all the computer systems on the ship.

"Tell us what you can about the before discussed subjects."

"Argh! The communications system be keel hauled and won't put out a signal. The sails err...thrusters be as the land lubber said: Melted shut. The cannons be loaded and ready for fire if we come across any bilge rats. Argh! And we be runnin' low on rum!"

"We don't have any rum." said Sasha with a sigh. She didn't even know what in the galaxy rum could be, but the computer always brought it up in reference the life support system.

"Yar! That's what I said." replied the computer.

"Useless piece of junk." said the captain under her breath. The lack of energy available to the diagnostic computer made is so it couldn't tell up from down. So it generally just repeated what Sasha had already been told.

"Ok people," she said, sitting up in her chair. "These are our priorities. Since we can't move we have to get the communication system online as soon as possible. We need rescue as fast as we can. The life support systems will stay on the lowest setting required for an organic life form of my size. The defensive systems may be diverted as needed, if we are found by the enemy we're dead, no use in kidding ourselves with keeping them online. I want this computer working the next time I get up. If we can't get some proper information out of it we will have to exit the craft and do the checks ourselves. I will remind you we have no safety lines on board to keep anyone who goes out tethered the ship, so I don't want to have to send anyone out."

"Yes ma'am!" they all said together with an "Argh!" added by the computer.

Sasha was starting to get a head ache from the lack of oxygen and stress. Already she was getting tired.

"Everyone back to your posts. I want a new report in 8 hours." she unbuckled herself from her seat.

"Argh! Captain!" said the computer.

"What is it?" she said irritably

"What about he rum!" it said.

Sasha sighed and ignored the incomprehensible computer and floated back to her room.

When he was sure she was back in beg asleep, the Sergeant turned the life support systems back up to medium.


	13. Chapter 13: The Holy Assult

**Chapter 13**

**The Holy Assault**

"The Temple of Shaar" said Clank

"Shaar?" replied Ratchet

"Yes, it is a temple created by a forgotten race to an unknown god." said clank

"And we have to assault it?" said Jak. "That sounds like we would be bucking for a lighting bolt to come out of the sky to fry us."

"I would disagree." said Clank. "The chances of a lighting bolt striking one of us in the weather we will be doing combat in is one thousand two,"

"Never mind Clank" said Ratchet.

Team Darkstar had been loaded onto the sausage-like ship some days ago, not told ware they were going. Clank had said it was likely that they were being moved so they wouldn't take advantage of the chaotic situation at the Dreadstation. It was all the same to Ratchet, he had an itch on his trigger finger he had not been able to properly scratch in the arena.

Clank continued as the data was transmitted to him. "Shaar is an ice planet, the entire surface is covered with solid ice 1/3 of a mile thick. And is known as a good source of raretanium."

"Come on Clank we want battle specks not a travel guide." said Jak

Clank cleared his throat in irritation. "The Temple consists of three hollowed out pyramids, a large central one and two smaller ones on the north and south sides. It is surrounded by a wall with two entrances. There also seems to be some data on some lower levels but it is minimal. It is speculated it was residence to the monks that once lived there."

"Does it say anything about our objective?" said Ratchet

"No, but I'm informed it will be given to us when we land like usual."

A loud snore broke up the meeting. Daxter had fallen asleep somewhere around 'The Temple of Shaar.'

"Daxter!" barked Jak

"WHAT?! HUH? I swear it wasn't me who stole Keira's underwear this time!"

Everyone stopped and stared at the confused Ottsel.

"What?" said Ratchet dumbfounded.

"Er, uh, nothing just a...er dream. Yea." said Daxter

"You're supposed to be paying attention to the battle plan Daxter." said Jak, annoyed.

"What for? The battle plan is always the same. See a striker, shoot the striker, don't die. Piece of cake." said Daxter with a yawn

"Easy for you to say, you haven't even done anything to help in the battles accept be a nuisance." said Ratchet.

"Yeah?! Well what about the toaster you carry around on your back? I don't see him shooting down dropships or blasting any executioners either." Replied Daxter obviously a bit miffed.

"I provide strategic and diagnostic data to Ratchet on and off the battlefield. I also have the functions of assisting with maneuverability as well as functionality by providing a carrying space for our gear." said Clank.

Daxter stared at him a moment. "Huh?"

"He is our field analyzer, and Ratchet's rocket pack slash backpack." said Jak

"Well I...that is. I can, er..." said Daxter stammering

"Spout goofy insults to the enemies? Yea, we've noticed." said Ratchet.

"All right enough." said Jak. "We don't need to start a fight, before the real fight begins.

"Indeed." said Clank trying to calm down a bit. "We are not each others enemies. We will save our frustration for them."

Daxter sat down with a huff mumbling under his breath.

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The ship rattled with the turbulence of re-entry to what the team supposed was Shaar.

"Current temperature on shaar is -23 degrees, snow is falling in the battle zone, wind is below 2mph with gusts of 5mph." said Clank on Ratchet's back.

"Negative 23!" said Daxter. "Oh, I'm gonna freeze."

"He has a point Ratchet." said Jak. "We have climate controlled suits, all Daxter has is that mini helmet Al made for him."

"Well have to tough it out for now." said Ratchet. "Perhaps we can find a vehicle to use or a building for us to operate out of."

"I could store him in my compartment." said Clank. "It is moderately warm there."

Daxter twitched, "In your stomach? No, thanks. I'll take my chances with the cold."

A small click warned that the drop doors were about to open. The team landed on there feet for once and were instantly up and assessing there surroundings. The landscape was barren and incredibly white. Jak and Ratchet would be easily spotted if not for the snow that was falling there green armor a splash of color on the empty white landscape. Realizing this Ratchet fell down in the snow pulling Jak down with him. They stayed still for a moment then Ratchet's quick select beeped and lit up with their objectives.

-Infiltrate the Temple of Shaar.

-Locate the entrance to the lower levels.

-Acquire the Artifact.

"Ok we have our mission. Clank, what's our heading?" said Ratchet closing the holo screen.

"My sensors indicate a power fluctuation to the Northeast. I would advise we head in that direction."

"Ok stay low, and keep sharp." said Ratchet and got up. Jak did the same, and they headed off at a slow pace crouching low to the ground.

Soon they could see blue lights off in the distance illuminating the falling snow. Clank said this was the source of the power fluctuation. They moved in closer and could make out the vague silhouette of the pyramids. Jak took out his fusion Riffle, as he had learned was the name of the gun to have injured him, and tried to get a better look, but the snow made it impossible.

"I can't see anything," he reported. "Let alone get a shot."

"Ok. Clank, how long until night fall?"

"Approximately 3 hours Galactic standard time." replied the little robot from his back.

"Ok, we'll wait until night and..." began Ratchet.

"Ratchet, Daxter won't last that long." said Jak.

The lombax looked at the tiny furry creature who was already shivering hard and had some ice caked on his body in places.

"Right, ok." Said Ratchet trying to think.

"Ratchet, I think the only way to secure a warm place would be to capture a vehicle from the strikers." said Clank

Ratchet sighed. It would not be an easy task. To destroy a vehicle was one thing, but to capture one, intact while it was in operation was quite another.

"Any ideas on how we can do that?" said Jak. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Yes, if Ratchet and I can get close enough we can disable the weapons system and perhaps over ride the cock pit lock system. But that would require a..."

"Distraction." finished Jak with a knowing sigh. "All right, let's see if we can find one before I have to carry an Ottsel popsicle."

The team moved out to the west at a low crouch, scanning what could be seen as best they could so they wouldn't be caught unawares. The cold seemed to have numbed Daxter's sense of humor a bit and he sat, shivering on Jak's shoulder, for once in his like, thinking.

"Jak," said Daxter

"Yeah?" he replied.

"You don't really think I'm useless do you?" he said with sincerity.

Jak was a bit taken aback by the comment and stopped to look at his partner. It was true that Daxter really didn't do much to help out. He was too small to handle a gun, and didn't have the scanners and know-how of Clank, but he did provide something else...

"No, I don't think so. You're the spirit of the team Dax. You keep us all sane by driving us insane." Jak forced a small chuckle but Daxter didn't seem convinced. "And if it wasn't for you, I would have died a long time ago back in Beren Praxtus's lab. You saved me then when know one else even believed I was alive."

Daxter smiled slightly and shivered more. He knew he was hindering the mission and putting his friends at risk by making them move and take on this task, but Jak's words were a bit comforting.

Ratchet called for a halt and crouched low to the ground. He motioned to Jak that he had seen movement. Now that he was listening Jak could hear the motorized wine and clank of a Stalker Tank. Ratchet motioned for Jak to move up and provide the distraction. Jak nodded and walked forward. He took out his Magma Cannon raising it, ready to fire. The tank was moving past them towards the complex. Jak fire once at the machine knowing his gun would do nothing to the armored behemoth. The tank stopped and turned its turret towards him. It seemed to think a moment, then the gatlin guns started to spin. Jak sprang into action strafing the monster to turn its attention away from Ratchet and Clank.

"Holy Toledo!" yelled Daxter as one of the plasma bolts whizzed past his head. "You wanna get a bit closer Jak? My head's still attached!" Jak ignored Daxter's comment. Jumping and flipping to avoid the Tanks fire proved to be a bit more challenging that Jak had supposed. Several bolts flew past him burning melt holes in the ice directly behind him. Finally one found its mark and blasted Jak off his feet. A smoking hole opened in the stomach area of his armor. Jak was sure he should be dead, but his life had been saved by Al's armor. The wind had been knocked out of him but he was no worse for ware. Then he heard the dreaded sound of the mortar launchers charging up. Daxter was on Jak's chest trying to get him to move, but his body wouldn't obey. Then just as he was sure the mortars were going to fire they powered down.

Jak looked up and saw the tank had been shut down just in time by Ratchet and Clank. Ratchet ran over to Jak and kneeled down next to him.

"You ok?" he said.

"Yea," coughed Jak. "I'm ok, just had the wind knocked out of me." Ratchet helped Jak to his feet. "Remind me to thank Al when we get back." he said examining the smoldering hole in the armor. It had not gone all the way through, but had it not been for the thermal plating the heat alone would have killed him.

"I'm glad your ok and all." said Daxter. "But I seriously think I'm gonna loose my tail if I stay out hear much longer.

With that the trio walked back to the offline tank.

"Ware's Clank?" said Jak.

"Still working on the lock for the cockpit. The whole tank is automated so it may take a moment." Said Ratchet. Then, as if on cue, the two doors of the tank clicked and hissed, then opened up. Clank's head came over from behind the tank.

"Finished." he said.

"Good work Clank" replied Ratchet. Clank released himself from the tank and promptly fell in the snow, which instantly covered over his head. Ratchet rolled his eyes and dug the small robot out. Meanwhile Jak hoisted Daxter up into the driver's seat.

"Ok, stay here Daxter, and don't touch anything."

"But I..." began Daxter.

"No Dax. We need you to stay hear and keep warm. That's the best way you can help us right now."

Daxter instantly recognized the patronization but sat down with his arms crossed then pushed the button to close the door.

With Daxter in a warm safe place Ratchet, Clank and Jak returned to there position outside the Temple of Shaar. Jak and Ratchet decided to burry themselves in the snow to make them less visible, only there heads stuck out and in the case of Jak so did the barrel of his Fusion Rifle. Clank was completely blind under the snow, but did his best to keep scanning for possible dangers. Finally it became dark enough that Ratchet decided it was ok to move forward. The snow continued to fall, helping to mask there approach. Then when Jak could see the complex clearly through is scope they stopped.

"Ok, Jak see if you can find a hill or something to post on so you can make some shots. Clank and I will see if we can find a way inside." said Ratchet. Jak nodded and looked around. Finding a good sized hill he moved to it.

Ratchet and Clank headed towards the outer wall.

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Daxter sat in the driver seat, letting the tank's heater bring his temperature back to normal. The seat was a bit wet from the melted ice off his fur. Daxter was starting to get back to himself and began to wonder how the tank was operated. He chose a harmless looking button that was lit up with a blue light. He pushed it and the radio turned on. It was tuned into a talk station with some guy named Lim Rushball complaining about the status of the galactic government. Daxter made a face and tried to find the tuning button. He did and was able to find a hard rock station that came in all right. Now with some good music on he began to explore the control panel a bit more.

He knew the buttons on the steering wheal were used to fire the gattling guns and thought about trying them out, but decided against it. It might give away his position. He noticed a small pedal on the floor. He knew that the steering wheal controlled the forward momentum of the tank, so what could the pedal be for? He decided to find out. Climbing out of the seat and onto the floor he push on it, but it wouldn't move. He stepped back and rolling up imaginary sleeves jumped on the stubborn thing. Suddenly the world leaped and forced him onto the floor face first. Then with a small boom and a jerk it stopped. Daxter had found the jump pedal.

He shook his head to clear it and got back to his feet. He climbed back onto the seat and began to push more buttons. He found the scanner, its settings and the outer cameras. The fuel dump (that he turned off quickly), the leg tension selector and the turret speed settings. Once he had tried all the buttons twice, (including the fuel dump by accident) he decided to try and drive it. He activated the front camera since he couldn't see over the dash and stood up on the edge of the seat so he could reach the steering wheal. He pushed it forward slightly and the tank lurched forward a bit. He adjusted the leg tension and pushed forward again. This time the tank moved forward smoothly with resounding slams of the legs.

"All right!" said Daxter.

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Jak got to the top of the hill and began to burry himself in snow again. Then he took aim with his rifle at the DZ Strikers on the wall. He say that they were wearing the same green colored armor that Ratchet and himself had been given and knew that only head shots would kill them in a single blast. He steadied his shot and fired.

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A loud crack filled the air as Ratchet approached the outer wall and knew Jak was watching his back. He looked around the outer area and noted the two yellow force fields blocking the two entrances through the wall. He also noticed the two bolt cranks on either side of the area. One was guarded by about 12 DZ strikers and an executioner. The other was guarded by a stalker turret.

"Looks like its time to test out my new B-6 Obliterator." Ratchet said and took the weapon out. He clicked his boots together to clear the snow off the bottom. This would have to be a fast attack. He leaped forward and activated his charge boots. They propelled him forward at alarming speed. The DZ strikers saw him coming and though he was a missile at first then just as they worked out what was going on it was too late.

"Hay junk brains! CATCH!" said Ratchet as he fire the highly explosive package. It landed in the middle of the group just as he had aimed for. The DZ strikers were blown to bits, but the Executioner was only knocked down. Just as Ratchet was ready to fire another shot a loud crack filled the air and the Executioner's head exploded. Its body swayed a bit then fell over.

"Nice shot Jak." said Ratchet.

"More where that came from." replied Jak over the com link and more cracks filled the air as he cleared the wall.

Ratchet was in the heat of things now. Several of the DZ strikers from the other side of the wall had heard the commotion and were using jet packs to get over the wall. Ratchet opened fire on them with his Dual Raptors. There new armor turned some of his shots away without effort but with some extra helpings of plasma he was able to take some down. Jak's rifle took care of the rest.

"Ratchet! The Stalker turret!" said Clank. Ratchet flipped around to see several mortar shots coming strait for him. He yelped and dove out of the way. The shots missed for the most part, but Ratchet had still been caught in the blast and was hurled head over heels through the air. His head rang and a loud piercing whine filled his ears. Faintly he could hear Jak saying something over the com link. Then as his head cleared he could hear Clank talking as well.

"Ratchet! RATCHET! It recharging for another volley!" Ratchet was on his stomach, his head towards the turret. He could see that what Clank had said was true.

"Hay Clank," said Ratchet shaking off the ringing in his ears. "Watch this."

"Oh I hate it when you say that." said Clank closing his eyes.

Just as the mortars launched Ratchet activated his charge boots and took out his Arbitor rocket launcher. As he sped past he launched a rocked squarely into the pivot joint of the turret. The whole machine flew up off the anchor about 10 feet and came crashing down as a useless flaming husk.

"Yee-haw!" he said getting to his feet. With the area clear for the moment Ratchet made his way to the bolt cranks.

"See Clank, you worry too much. I know what I'm doing. Besides that was nothing like the Battle of Markadia. Remember?" he said as he began to turn the first crank. "Man that was intense. Tyrinoids everywhere, energy shells flying left and right as I reactivated the air defenses, then the turret when down and we had to cover the Rangers from the next wave as it came in. Then the last wave, oh man the last wave. Those were the days huh Clank?" Ratchet finished turning the crank and headed over to the next one.

"As I recall you were laid up in the hospital wing for a week afterwards with Al yelling at you for destroying your armor." said Clank

"Well, yea, but...well. We lived right? That's the important part." Ratchet finished turning the last crank and the force fields deactivated.

"Ok, Jak come on down hear and let...oh crap." Ratchet cut off as two stalker tanks came out of the two entrances and started moving towards him. They seemed to be surrounded in some kind of energy shield. Ratchet took out his Arbitor again and started to fire at them. The rockets found there marks but no damage was taken by the tanks. The explosives were useless against them.

"Will we survive this Ratchet?" said Clank

"Well...uh..." Ratchet thought for a moment. "Perhaps it only blocks projectiles! Maybe I can..." he said as he took out his wrench but it was blown out of his hand by a shot from an executioner that had come in behind the tank.

"I don't think so little Lombax." it said. The wrench fell into the snow then flew back to Ratchet's side. An effect of the DNA assignment applied to it in Bogon. Another striker came out from behind the other tank.

"Now then you little rat surrender your..." its head exploded from Jak's shot. The other striker gasped and picked Ratchet up. He held him in front of himself, especially his head. Ratchet couldn't move as much as he struggled. Clank couldn't get a shot off with his Clank Zapper. He was too close to the Executioner that he might damage himself with it.

Jak radioed over the com link. "That was my last shot Ratchet, I'm on my way down, hold on!"

Ratchet continued to struggle but found it was useless. A third tank pulled up next to them its mortars already charged.

"Now then Lombax, this is ware you die." said the striker and turned him towards the first two tanks, using the third as cover from Jak who was no longer a threat, unknown to the Executioner.

"Well Clank old buddy this may be the end." said Ratchet. Clank smiled.

"I do not think so."

The third tank let loose its mortars. They pounded into the other two tanks into the ground leaving them as melted piles of molten scrap metal. Stunned by the surprising turn of events the Executioner's grip on Ratchet slacked and Ratchet was able to wriggle free. Then using a move Jak had taught him swept the Executioner off his feet with a kick. The battle bot hit the ground hard on his back and found himself staring to the spinning barrels of the third stalker tank. With a scream of horror he was torn to pieces by the powerful guns. Jak came just in time to see this happen. Once the threat had been neutralized Ratchet and Jak sized up the tank. The cockpit clicked and hissed then opened.

"Who's bad? I'm BAD! Who's bad!? DAXTER'S BAD!" said the tiny furry occupant. Daxter was doing a little dance on the diver seat of the tank. Then he pointed a finger at Ratchet. "Ha HA! Now who's useless!?" he said. Ratchet was completely stunned and stood with his mouth agape. Jak slapped him on the back and woke him up.

"Man I though you were a goner for sure." he said.

"Yea, I would have if not for Daxter." he said Daxter was playing air guitar and singing "We are the champions."

"Thanks Dax." said Ratchet feeling like a bit of an ass.

"Hey, anytime furball." said Daxter turning to him.

Ratchet nodded then turned to Jak, "ok, let's get inside the temple and find the artifact"

"Right." said Jak. "Dax, you patrol the outer area and keep us covered.

"What? Really?!" said Daxter stopping in mid dance.

"Yea, just don't get too destructive."

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" said Daxter jumping into the air and then back into the tank.

"Computer, load the mortars and close the cockpit, were going robo-hunting!" said Daxter

"Affirmative super chief supreme of the universe Daxter." said the computer as the door closed.

Daxter stomped off in the tank. Ratchet, Clank and Jak headed into the temple grounds. The center pyramid seemed like a good place to start. A stair way led up to the hole in the front that served as an entrance to the building and after searching the hollow insides they found an ancient switch. It took Jak and Ratchet to pull it. Once it had been pulled the middle of the floor began to descend. Jak and Ratchet jumped onto the elevator. It descended through the layers of shimmering ice that made up the uppermost crust of the planet. Once they reached rock the elevator stopped at a cave corridor. Jak took point with his magma cannon out. Ratchet followed with his Dual Raptors raised and ready.

The cave opened to into a large circular room with a pedestal in the center. Jak motioned for Ratchet to advance and watched the hall they had come from. Ratchet approached the podium that was drenched in light from a crystal just above it. The object came into focus. Ratchet reached out and picked up...a can of soda?

"What the hell?" said Ratchet. "What is this?"

"That!" said a voice from nowhere. "Is the optimum sports drink in the entire galaxy!"

A floating camera flew out from he shadows. The voice was coming from it.

"That's right Ratchet you hold in your hand the most effective sports drink ever created! With 4000 times more caffeine than the leading brand you will swear you could race to the Polaris galaxy and back again in 1.3 seconds! FALRORK! The only drink endorsed by Team Darkstar!"

Jak shot the camera.


End file.
